A little over a month after the champion American sprinter Tori Bowie, who won three medals at the 2016 Olympic Games, was found dead at her Florida home at the age of 32, a coroner determined she had died of birth complications.
According to a copy of the report received by TMZ Sports, Bowie’s autopsy performed by the Florida Orange County Office of Medical Examiners revealed that Bowie was “giving birth” at the time of his death. According to USA Today Sports, which reviewed the report, the athlete was about eight months pregnant and carrying a “well-developed fetus.”
According to the report, his death was ruled out of natural causes.
The exact nature of the complications Bowie suffered wasn’t immediately clear, but officials speculated that he was suffering from respiratory distress and eclampsia, USA Today reported. According to the Mayo Clinic, eclampsia is a condition in which high blood pressure triggers seizures during pregnancy or shortly after birth.
The Orange County coroner’s office did not immediately request comment from The Daily Beast outside of business hours.
It was reported that she was pregnant shortly after Bowie’s death, but it was unclear how far she had progressed at the time. An obituary issued by the Florida funeral home, which hosted the memorial service, said the runner was “killed beforehand” by his daughter, named Ariana Bowie.
Authorities said at the time it could take up to three months for the results of pending toxicology tests to be completed.
County sheriff’s deputies were sent to Bowie’s home on May 2 after receiving reports that a woman in her early 30s had not been seen or heard from for several days. Neighbors later told daily mail He said Bowie had a “long history of disorderly behavior”, including raining eggs on a neighbor’s house and holding a knife while shouting at a boyfriend in the street. The garage door was reportedly left open for three months before his body was found.
At the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Bowie won silver in the 100 and bronze in the 200, anchoring Team USA’s gold medal-winning 4x100m relay. A year later she won the world championship.
“Yes, I am the fastest woman in the world. Oh my God, I’ve been waiting to say this for years,” Bowie said after the race.
Did not compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic trials. New York Times After his death, the athlete reported that he was inexplicably estranged from his friends. His longtime representative told the newspaper that Bowie had struggled with anxiety and paranoia before his death.
His last competition was in June 2022.