Obituaries

Tori Bowie obituary: Fastest woman in the world whose final years were shrouded in mystery

Fellow track athletes who once trained or competed with the American athlete say she grew distant

Tori Bowie of the United States winning the women's 4 x 100m relay final at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. Photograph: by Quinn Rooney/Getty
Tori Bowie of the United States winning the women's 4 x 100m relay final at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. Photograph: by Quinn Rooney/Getty
Sat May 20 2023 - 02:01

Born August 27th, 1990

Died About May 2nd, 2023

A three-time Olympic medallist and once the world’s fastest woman, Frentorish (Tori) Bowie, died aged just 32, leaving her home town of Sandhill, Mississippi, and the athletics community struggling for answers.

Bowie’s path to track and field fame began almost by accident. She was born in 1990 and left in a foster care facility aged two. Her first love was basketball and she later became a long-jump specialist. One former coach described her as looking like “she was running from a Rottweiler”.

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When Al Joyner, a 1984 Olympic gold medallist in the triple jump, met her in 2013, he saw the elite potential. He compared her to his late wife, Olympic champion Florence Griffith Joyner, and his sister, Olympic champion Jackie Joyner-Kersee. She could surpass their records, he told her. “I told her she’s going to be the next great one,” Joyner said. “And that was in 2014. I’ll never forget the day she beat Allyson Felix. She told me, ‘Al, you were right.’”

At the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Bowie earned a silver medal in the 100m, a bronze in the 200m and a gold in the 4x100m relay on a team that included Felix. In 2017 she won a world championship, earning the title of fastest woman in the world after a dramatic 100m race that she won by 100th of a second by leaning her head forward across the finish line. Ever the fierce competitor, after that finish, she approached her coach. “I need a new coach,” she said, despite the monumental win. “The race was too close.”

“Yes, I am the world’s fastest woman. Oh my God, I’ve been waiting to say that for years,” she said afterwards.

Her athletics career ended in injury as unexpectedly as it had begun. She did not qualify for the 2020 Olympics. After that, something shifted

Bowie’s dreams expanded. She wanted to get into modelling and was interested in working with fashion brands, and in 2018 she did both. She was featured in a Valentino campaign and a Stella McCartney-Adidas collaboration. She walked in New York Fashion Week. She was photographed by Annie Leibovitz for Vogue and was featured in the ESPN Body Issue.

But her athletics career ended in injury as unexpectedly as it had begun. She did not qualify for the 2020 Olympics. After that, something shifted. Bowie was always private, friends and former coaches said. In the past few years she lost touch with many of the people who had been part of her athletic rise. Her final years appeared to be as much a mystery as her death. Fellow track athletes who once trained or competed with her said she had grown distant. Many didn’t know her off the track at all. She struggled with anxiety and paranoia, according to her longtime agent, Kimberly Holland, who said Bowie became more introverted.

Her death was discovered on May 2nd by police who were conducting a wellness check after she had not been seen or heard from in several days. Bowie had been pregnant, but it was unclear whether she carried to term before she died. Her funeral was told she was “preceded in death” by a daughter, Ariana Bowie. – This article originally appeared in The New York Times

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