Triple jumper Kéné Ndoye, who won Senegal's first world indoor athletics medal in 2003, has died aged 44 ©AIPS

Kéné Ndoye, who won Senegal's first world indoor athletics medal when she earned bronze in the women's triple jump at the 2003 World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, has died aged 44.

Ndoye, who also competed in the long jump, retired in 2012 due to a degenerative disease.

Her death occurred on February 13, it has been revealed.

She competed in two Olympics, finishing 14th at both Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Games in triple jump. 

In Athens she also came 21st in the long jump.

Kéné Ndoye made athletics history for Senegal ©Getty Images
Kéné Ndoye made athletics history for Senegal ©Getty Images

She became a scholarship holder with the Olympic Solidarity programme from 2002.

Ndoye won gold, silver and bronze medals at the African Games, and won the "Golden Lion" prize as Senegal's top sports performer for 2003.

This was when she set the national indoor record of 14.72 metres in winning her world indoor bronze.

Ndoye began her athletics career at the African Championships in Yaoundé, Cameroon, in 1996 when she was 17 years old. 

She won the triple jump gold medal with a mark of 12.99m and took bronze in the long jump.

In long jump she was twice the African champion, in 2000 and 2004, when she won with an effort of 6.64m.

In 2005 she missed a medal at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki by three places with an effort of 14.47m.

After taking long jump and triple jump silver at the 2006 African Championships, she returned after a five-year gap and won a final triple jump silver at the event in Maputo, Mozambique, before retiring the following year.