From left: Jacques Freitag holds his gold medal after winning the men's high jump final at the 9th IAAF World Athletics Championship in 2003 in Paris. Freitag a couple of years ago and a more recent photo of the former high jumper. Pictures: Michael Steele/Getty Images and Supplied
Jacques Freitag’s fall from grace is a tragic tale. From jumping over couches and chairs as a youngster to impress his South African high jump champion mother, Hendrina Pieters, to jumping a red traffic light with drugs in his pocket and his untimely death.
The former high jump star’s blood-soaked body was found with gunshot wounds on Monday afternoon, 1 July in a field near Zandfontein cemetery in the quiet Pretoria West neighbourhood of Andeon.
Before the 42-year-old Freitag was reported missing two weeks ago, the last time the ex-athlete appeared on our radar was when he was arrested in 2012 for being in possession of the illegal drug CAT (methcathinone).
The discovery was made when the one-time golden boy of South African sport was stopped by Tshwane police after he ran a red traffic light in Bronkhorstspruit.
Since news of his disappearance broke, a renewed spotlight was thrown on the lanky high jumper who was reportedly picked up by an unknown man at around 1am on 17 June from his mother’s Bronkhorstspruit home.
The man allegedly dropped him off at a bridge in Booysens. He was then last seen alive when he left a guesthouse in Pretoria West the following day.
Freitag’s involvement with the man allegedly boiled down to “a job” from which he initially stood to make a handsome sum of R60 000.
Netwerk24 reported that he was, however, only paid R6 000 because he “failed to do the job properly”.
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A source told the publication that Freitag was allegedly executed. They claimed that a notorious drug dealer possibly played a role in the retired athlete’s disappearance and that he himself might have been involved in a hit gone wrong.
None of these allegations have been confirmed by the police who are investigating a case of murder.
According to Gauteng police spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Muridili, no arrests have been made and the motive for the murder is still unknown.
A chilling video clip posted on Netwerk24 of his body being carried from the crime scene on a stretcher is in stark contrast to the jubilant young man who stood 2.04 metres tall on the winner’s podium at the Stade de France in Paris in 2003.
Freitag is one of only 10 athletes to win world championship titles at the youth, junior, and senior levels of an athletic event. Others featuring in this exclusive golden circle of top-performing athletes include the likes of Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell-Brown and Kirani James.
The former high jumper was only 21 when he won the gold medal in the men’s high jump event by clearing a height of 2.35m on 25 August 2003 at the IAAF World Athletics Championship in Paris.
He still holds the African record after clearing 2.38m which he set in a competition in 2005.
Since Freitag’s disappearance and death, a picture of a troubled man fighting a years-long battle against drug addiction has emerged.
Netwerk24 spoke to Hugo Badenhorst, who coached Freitag for 10 years.
“He was an extremely talented high jumper and highly intelligent. Things unfortunately went haywire in his life,” said Badenhorst, who helped Freitag to get into the Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affies) in Pretoria when he was living on the streets as a teenager after his father committed suicide.
“I spoke to Jacques about a month ago or so. He was coaching here and there at some schools, but it wasn’t working out for him. It’s all very tragic.”
According to Freitag’s sister, Chrissie Lewis, her brother was never able to bounce back after his dream of Olympic glory was shattered when he broke his ankle mere days before he was to compete in Athens in 2004.
The siblings grew apart in later years due to the athlete’s drug and alcohol addiction which his sister suspects was the result of partying with other athletes who might have been using drugs.
“We have not had a close relationship for a couple of years now due to his drug use,” Lewis told Rapport.
“I am a single mother who needs to protect and care for my children and he was on drugs most of the time.”
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