INDIANAPOLIS (Indiana), Oct 2: Four-time Olympic discus gold medallist and former world record holder Al Oerter died on Monday of heart failure in Florida. He was 71.

Oerter is regarded as one of the greatest American track and field athletes of all-time and is one of only two Olympic athletes, along with Carl Lewis, to win a gold medal in four consecutive games.

The native of New York is the only athlete to set four consecutive Olympic records.

Seen as a long shot for a medal in the 1956 Games, the then 20-year-old Oerter surprised the Melbourne crowd by winning the gold medal on his first throw and setting his first Olympic record. Four years later in Rome, Oerter exceeded his winning distance in Melbourne by 10 feet to receive his second consecutive gold medal.

Oerter won another gold medal four years later in Tokyo despite battling a severe ribcage injury.

Oerter made history in Mexico City in 1968, becoming the first Olympian to win the same event in four consecutive Olympics.

Oerter was elected to the US Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983. –AFP