Olympic medal-winning sprinter Bowie mourned after death at 32

LOS ANGELES -- Tori Bowie, a three-time Olympic medalist and 2017 100m world champion, was remembered Wednesday as a rare athletics talent and warm friend after her death at the age of 32.

Bowie anchored the US team that won 4x100m relay gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she also earned silver in the 100m and 200m bronze.

USA Track and Field and her management company confirmed her death a day after sheriff's deputies in Orlando, Florida, found her dead at her home.

"This is beyond stats and speed," retired US sprint great Justin Gatlin said on Instagram. "Tori was a beautiful human being and had a smile that made you want to smile too.

"A country girl that loved her roots. I remember sitting with Tori and listening to her stories of growing up and racing horses on foot lol. She was a fierce competitor and great teammate. A true legend that made her mark in our sport and hearts."

USATF chief executive Max Siegel said the federation was "deeply saddened" by Bowie's death.

"A talented athlete, her impact on the sport is immeasurable, and she will be greatly missed," Siegel said.

Icon Management tweeted they were "devastated to share the very sad news that Tori Bowie has passed away.

"We've lost a client, dear friend, daughter and sister," the firm said.

A cause of death was not immediately known.

The Sheriff's Office in Orange County, Florida, said deputies had found the woman identified as Bowie "when conducting a well-being check of a woman in her 30s who had not been seen or heard from in several days."

"Entry was made into the residence and a woman, tentatively identified as Frentorish "Tori" Bowie (DOB: 8/27/1990), was found dead in the home. There were no signs of foul play."

Bowie, raised by her grandmother in rural Mississippi, converted from the long jump in 2014 and became the fastest woman in the world that year.

Two years later in Rio, she prevented a Jamaican clean sweep of the 100m medals when she finished second to Elaine Thompson in a time of 10.83sec with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce third.

She won the 100m world title in London the following year and remains the lone American woman to win an Olympic or world 100m title since Carmelita Jeter in 2011.

"I'm so heartbroken over this," 2012 Olympic long jump gold medalist Brittney Reese said. "You have made a lot of us proud thank you for representing our state of Mississippi like you did."

"This hurt," tweeted Will Claye, who has represented the US internationally in triple jump and long jump. "Long live the champ, the sister, the daughter, the model and so much more!"

Sprinter Tianna Madison posted a picture of herself and Bowie on Twitter as they celebrated the United States' relay triumph in Rio.

Fraser-Pryce, the Jamaican reigning world 100m champion, tweeted: "My heart breaks for the family of Tori Bowie. A great competitor and source of light. Your energy and smile will always be with me. Rest in peace."

US Olympic athlete Lolo Jones also paid tribute to Bowie on Twitter, calling her an "incredible talent" and "A beautiful runner."

Like miracles 

Bowie received a hero's welcome in her home state after her 2016 Olympic exploits, the governor declaring November 25, 2016 "Tori Bowie Day."

Pisgah High School, in the small town of Sand Hill, displayed a sign designating "Tori Bowie Lane" on campus.

"To see things like that and like this, it's just like miracles, I guess," Bowie told the Hattiesburg American newspaper in Mississippi.

Bowie re-entered the long jump and came fourth at the 2019 world championships in Doha, her last major competition.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said in a statement he was "Shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the sudden passing of Olympic gold medalist Tori Bowie.

"In this moment of grief, let me express my heartfelt condolences to her family and friends. The sports world has lost a true champion."

Agence France-Presse

Kerley wins world 100m gold in US cleansweep

EUGENE, United States -- American Fred Kerley led a US clean sweep as he stormed to victory in the men's 100m at the World Championships in Oregon on Saturday.

Kerley, in lane four, was down on Marvin Bracy for 95 meters of the tight race, but managed to outdip his teammate for victory in 9.86 seconds at Eugene's Hayward Field.

Bracy took silver in 9.88sec, Trayvon Bromell claiming bronze in the same time for a third-ever 100m world championship clean sweep for the United States after 1983 and 1991.

The fourth of the strong US quartet, Christian Coleman, the reigning world champion from Doha in 2019 who was banned from the Tokyo Olympics for missing three doping tests, finished sixth (10.01) despite an electric start.

"We said we were going to do it and we did! USA, baby!" Olympic silver medallist Kerley said to roars of approval and applause from a partisan home crowd.

It was far from plain sailing for the in-form Kerley, who set out his stall with a heat-winning 9.79sec on Friday, as all the sprinters got off to a good start.

Bracy and Coleman looked like they might deprive Kerley of a gold many had predicted he would win.

But they hadn't counted on his savage finishing skills, the former 400m runner showing all his strength at the line. Bromell also left it late to sneak onto the podium from lane eight.

As the crowd realized it was a US clean sweep, chants of "U-S-A" rang out and flags brandished.

Jamaica's Oblique Seville finished fourth in 9.97sec, just ahead of South African Akani Simbine, who was clocked at 10.01 like Coleman in sixth.

Japan's Abdul Hakim Sani Brown and Canada's Aaron Brown were seventh and eighth, in 10.06 and 10.07sec respectively.

Failing to advance from the semi-finals to the final were Canada's Olympic 200m champion Andre de Grasse, also a two-time 100m bronze medalist, and 2011 world champion Yohan Blake of Jamaica.

The build-up to the final was rocked by the decision of Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs to withdraw just hours before the semi-finals with a tightness in his right thigh.

Italian team doctor Andrea Billi said that evaluation of the contraction had found a "clinical picture that can put muscle integrity at risk and lead to injury".

Jacobs, who pulled off one of the shocks of the Tokyo Olympics last year after storming to victory in the 100m in a time of 9.80sec, was crowned world indoor 60m champion in Belgrade in March but has struggled with injury since.

"I am a fighter and this is why I decided to be in Eugene," he tweeted, saying it had been a "painful choice, I am forced to stop".

Agence France-Presse

NFL: Ted Ginn Jr. claims he beat Bolt in high school race

Ted Ginn Jr. has been turning heads with his speed throughout his NFL career, and now the veteran wide receiver is doing the same with his recent comments to TMZ.

Ginn, 35, told TMZ that he defeated Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt in a race during high school.

"Well I ran against Usain Bolt. I got him when we was in the 12th grade. All of the top guys that won in the Olympics between 2004 until now, I basically had a chance to race them guys in high school," Ginn said.

When asked to confirm that he indeed defeated Bolt -- who is generally regarded as the fastest human being alive -- Ginn was quick with his response.

"Yeah. I got that. You can go look that up," he said.

Ginn's bragging didn't end there. He said had he not gone to the NFL that an Olympic gold medal "for sure" would have been in his future.

Bolt, 33, is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist.

The Chicago Bears signed Ginn to a one-year contract earlier this month. He caught 30 passes for 421 yards and two touchdowns for the New Orleans Saints in 2019, and has 409 career receptions for 5,702 yards and 33 scores in 187 games with six teams since 2007.

Field Level Media/Reuters

Rio Games unveil 'affordable' ticketing

RIO DE JANEIRO - Rio 2016 Games organizers Tuesday unveiled ticket pricing aimed at making attendance "as affordable as possible," with entry to the blue riband 100m final costing just half of what it did at London 2012.

Athletics fans wanting to see Usain Bolt target a third straight 100 and 200m golden double will pay a maximum 12000 reais ($545) compared to the $1160 London best seats equivalent.

In all, some 7.5 million tickets will go on sale for the August 5-21 event and organizers said sports fans can buy roughly half -- 3.8 million -- for 70 Brazilian reais ($30) or under across 717 events in 28 sports.

There will be a maximum five price categories: A for the most expensive to E for the cheapest, including for the opening ceremony at the Maracana, where the best seats will fetch a cool 4,600 reais ($1980) but the cheapest only 200 reais ($80).

A top category opening ceremony ticket cost £2012 ($3275) for the 2012 Games in London, though the cheapest ones were ten times less.

Top category tickets for the football final in Rio will be 900 reais -- but fans will only have to stump up 70 reais for category A access to women's preliminary games and 100 for the men's. Some of those matches will be played in other cities -- Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Salvador and Sao Paulo.

Watching the beach volleyball on Rio's iconic Copacabana Beach will start at 100 reais, rising to 1200 for the final while tickets to the men's and women's tennis trophy matches will fetch 700 reais.

A category entrance to the basketball final will cost 1200 (350 in category C).

For fans looking simply for a taste of the atmosphere at the first Games ever to be held in South America there are bargains to be had.

Deep pockets will not be required for mountain biking, for example, with entry costing just 40 reais.

Tickets to the field hockey will cost just 60 reias for preliminaries rising to 160 for the final.

Weightlifting will cost initially 60 reais, rising to 100 for the final while wrestling will start at 70 (2010 for the finals).

Another -- initial -- bargain is water polo, with preliminary rounds access 50 reais, though the final will set you back 580 or 140 for a category C, the lowest available for the discipline.

Organizers posted the full price ranges to their website -- (www.rio2016.com) ahead of the unveiling of the full Games program to be published in November along with ways for the public to register and buy tickets.

They said fans could post details to organizers on the events they most want to watch and receive back personalized news and information on sports and athletes they are interested in following.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com