Tori Bowie: Olympic champion whose grandmother drove her success after she was placed in foster care

Tori Bowie, the starlet sprinter who was a three-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist after being placed in foster care and raised by her grandmother, has passed away suddenly at the age of 32.

The shy athlete never forgot her roots growing up in a tight-knit community in Sandhill, Mississippi, crediting her “tough” upbringing as making her the winner she was.

Her crowning achievement was her pivotal role in Team USA winning Olympic gold in the 4×100 relay in Rio in 2016, where she ran the anchor leg and outlasted Jamaica’s 10-time world champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

“We are devastated to share the very sad news that Tori Bowie has passed away,” said Icon Management Inc. in a statement Wednesday morning.

“We have lost a client, a dear friend, a daughter and a sister. Tori was a champion… a beacon of light that shone so brightly! We are truly heartbroken and our prayers are with the family and friends.”

The statement did not reveal or release what led to Bowie’s untimely death. She was found dead at her home in Winter Garden, Florida, on Tuesday.

Born Frentorish Bowie on August 27, 1990, ‘Tori’ was placed in foster care at age 2 with her sister Tamarra, 11 months her junior.

Her grandmother, Bobbie Smith, fought a fierce custody battle to raise them alone in the small rural town of Sand Hill, about 15 miles northeast of Jackson, Mississippi.

Bowie recently said that “people weren’t supposed to succeed” where she came from, but credited Smith for her success.

“My grandmother has been the role model in my life,” she said People in 2016, as she reflected on her early years leading up to the Rio Olympics.

“In the end, she fought for us and got custody of us. We didn’t have much, but something she did give was character.’

Bowie nurtured her competitive instinct by playing basketball with her male cousins, who she said “never made it easy… never let me win” and “made me tough.”

She and her sister excelled, winning back-to-back basketball state championships.

But their love of basketball almost brought their running career to a halt, as Bowie’s first coach Angie Reynolds recounted NBC.

“They were so used to wearing the long basketball shorts they’re comfortable in, so when I ordered the training shorts, they didn’t want to run,” Reynolds said. “Tori said she’s not going to run.”

“I just thought we were too young to show our bottoms, you know,” Tamarra said.

But they did run and Bowie immediately stood out as a future star.

She won two high school sprint championships and three state relay titles.

Bowie received an athletic scholarship to the University of Southern Mississippi, but it was in 2014 that she gained national attention after clocking 10.91 in the semifinals of the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships – the top time in her heat.

After winning the bronze medal at the 2015 World Championships, Bowie qualified for the U.S. Olympic team for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

There, she won silver in the 100m dash and bronze in the 200m.

But she eventually won gold along with fellow sprinters English Gardner, Allyson Felix and Tianna Bartoletta in the 4x100m relay.

A year later, at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in London, she won the 100 meters and the 4×100 meters relay.

She last competed in the 2019 World Championships in Qatar but has been living quietly in Florida for the past four years.

Her last Instagram post from October 2019 showed a video competing in the long jump at that same event with the caption, “What a journey, what a journey…finishing 4th in the world considering I haven’t been there in 5 years been more is a huge achievement for me!’

‘Let’s just say I’m looking forward to Tokyo! To all who are chasing their dreams, have courage and determination! I know I will.’

But according to data from the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Bowie did not qualify for the 100 meters or the long jump.

Bowie and her family remained close throughout her life, and Tamarra followed her match around the world.

“I was that annoying sister,” Tamarra said in 2016. “Even when she went to university. I followed her there. But recently, as she was processing, it finally dawned on her that she’s going to the Olympics. I told her, “I’ve been waiting for it to hit you!”‘

But responding to the news of her untimely death, Tamarra alluded to her sister’s inner struggle.

“People who pretend to be happy have some of the saddest souls, and people who don’t try to convince the world they are happy have the most sincere souls, because they are content to be them for them and no one else.” she said. in a Facebook post.

Bowie’s sporting prowess entailed glitzy sponsorship deals, a modeling career and glamorous photo shoots with magazines like Vogue and Sports Illustrated.

She once joked that she wanted to “take on Naomi Campbell on the catwalk.”

But the sprinter never forgot her humble beginnings and how her grandmother raised her.

“My birth mother put me in foster care when I was two years old, so my whole life has been a struggle.”

She added: “My grandmother told me a long time ago that I don’t care if you’re sweeping a porch for a living. She said, you have to do your best. So I lived by that every day.

“It’s not about where you come from. It’s just about where we’re trying to go and what we’re trying to achieve. And I try to be that person, to show everyone there that it’s possible.’