Track star Tori Bowie died in childbirth

Athletic career

Bowie’s ascent to world’s fastest woman began on a basketball court in Sandhill, Miss.

Pisgah High School was too small to field separate basketball and track teams, so if Bowie wanted to play basketball, she would have to run as well. She went on to help her track team win state titles, competing in the 100-meter, 200-meter, 4×100-meter relay and long jump.

When she was recruited by the University of Southern Mississippi, she said she would compete in track and field if she could try running on the basketball team. She eventually stayed with the track.

Turning pro in 2013, Bowie’s greatest potential seemed to be in the long jump. But she quickly switched to sprinting and her success skyrocketed. Bowie became a three-time Olympic medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics before earning the title of fastest woman in the world with a 100m win at the world championships a year later.

She was generous with her success, her friend Antoine Preudhomme said, and would visit foster homes in Florida and Mississippi three to four times a year to deliver gifts and spend time with the kids.

Her last years

Over the past few years, Bowie, who has always been private, turned more inward and lost touch with many of the coaches who were part of her journey to the top of the sport.

“She even pulled away from me,” her longtime agent, Kimberly N. Holland, said on the day of her funeral. “But she always found her way back because of the bond we had.”

She was excited about the pregnancy, Holland said. The two spoke on the phone a few weeks before she died.

“It was one of the best conversations we’ve had in a long time,” Holland said on the phone Monday. “We just giggled like schoolgirls. We laughed so hard my stomach hurt.”

Bowie agreed to go to Atlanta so Holland could help raise the baby. They were both so excited, Holland said, “just hearing the joy.” It was the last time they spoke.