World champion Tori Bowie’s mother abandoned her children, her father went to prison for 50 years for drug crimes, and her competitive sister beat her to death. The runner became depressed and died at only 32 years old.
– Exploding to the top and exploding out, describes Iltalehti’s athletics expert Arto Bryggare The fastest woman in the USA Tori Bowie’s career.
The world champion lived a dramatic life. Bowie’s mother abandoned her children, his father was imprisoned for 50 years for drug crimes, and his rival sister beat him to death. The athlete became depressed and passed away at the beginning of the week at his home in Florida at the age of 32. According to information from Iltalehti, the runner committed suicide.
– He was a well-liked athlete and a super talented sprinter. In the long jump, he rose to the top of the world with a very short training.
Bowie won a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics as part of the United States relay team, a silver in the 100 meters and a bronze in the 200 meters.
At the World Championships in London 2017, he won gold in both the 100 meters and the relay. In Beijing 2015, he won the World Championship bronze from the hundred.
In the long jump at the World Championships in Doha 2019, the Yankee was fourth.
The 100 meter record is a rock-hard 10.78. It ranks 17th in the world all-time record.
The long jump record of 691 ranks 123rd on the all-time list.
Mother refused
Tori Bowie won the 100m sprint gold at the 2017 London Games. PDO
The mother abandoned Tori, who was born in 1990, and her younger sister Tamara to an orphanage when Tori was 2 years old.
A responsible grandmother who lived in the small town of Sand Hill, Mississippi, petitioned for and was granted custody of the children.
– My grandmother was my role model. He always said that yes, I took care of you, because it’s simple: my own grandmother raised six grandchildren, Bowie described to the media at the 2017 World Championships in London.
Dad came into the picture when Bowie was 13 years old. In 1999, for example, the father had been in prison for 15 months due to drug offences.
– He tried hard and I thought he was a good father. I think he got his life in order in the early 2000s. He was in my and Tamara’s life until new problems arose.
In 2013, for Bowie’s father To Dennis Smith the charges for five serious drug offenses were read and the prosecutor sought a 360-year prison sentence. The court dismissed four of the five charges, but the sentence was 50 years.
The runner tried to pursue his father’s rights while on vacation from his top sports career.
– My father was never violent. “We’re not excusing his crime, but a 50-year sentence for selling cocaine is ridiculous,” Bowie said in stories published in 2018.
Violent quarrel
400m sprint Olympic champion and world champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo had a falling out with the late Tori Bowie. ZumaWire / MVPHOTOS
At the same time that Bowie was fighting his father’s sentence, uncomfortable things were happening on the training ground.
Yankki belonged to the Adidas team, so he lived and trained in Orlando, Florida.
He got into violent disagreements on the training ground between the 200 and 400 meter runners Shaunae Miller-Uibon with. The Bahamian two-time 400m Olympic champion is married to an Estonian decathlete Maicel Uibon with.
The women’s dispute escalated into a fistfight in 2018. Bowie claimed in a story published in January 2019 that Miller-Uibo beat him to a pulp.
The American packed his things and left for the Chula Vista training center in California.
Roads quickly rose on the West Coast as well, as Bowie was removed from the athlete center due to $6,000 in overdue accommodation fees.
– There have been glimmers and disagreements. Evidently, Tori was a bit of a wild person, says Bryggare.
Before the overdue payments, it was estimated in the US media that Bowie had earned around three million euros from sprinting.
– It is completely incomprehensible that the talent of that class gets into such problems in the United States. He was the Yankees’ number one runner, ahead of only the Jamaicans in the late 2010s.
A mental hole
Tori Bowie finished fourth in her second event in the long jump at the 2019 World Championships in Doha. It was the woman’s last value competition representation. The peak career was over before the Yankee was 30 years old. ZumaWire / MVPHOTOS
According to public information, Bowie suffered from depression in recent years.
– I know firsthand that some athletes fall into insurmountable depression after their career ends, says Bryggare.
In 2020–22, Bowie no longer competed in the length. In the sprint, the main distance changed to 200 meters. The results were modest compared to the previous level. In addition to mental challenges, the woman also suffered from leg problems.
– It’s not about money, it’s about life. The mental hole that comes after elite sports is deep.
The American’s last competition was the 200-meter start in Florida on June 4, 2022. Bowie’s ineligible downwind time was 23.60. The runner’s record for 200 meters was almost two seconds better (21.77).
– It’s not about whether one is world champion or district champion. A rapid change in lifestyle is extremely difficult to manage. There will be moments when you feel that you are only half, says Bryggare.
– In team sports, we miss collective experiences. It’s about those moments when in the dressing room we are sharing a common cause, in a way something big, the expert adds.
Don’t be alone! Comprehensive support is available for mental health problems and suicidal thoughts. You can find information about support services by phone, online and face-to-face in this article.
Sources: CNN, WLBT, Gulfnews and Flotrack.
Tori Bowie posed on the red carpet in Los Angeles in July 2018. ZumaWire / MVPHOTOS