November 21, 2008
Track And Field
Oerter dead at 71, won 4 Olympic gold medals
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Al Oerter, the discus great who won gold medals in four straight Olympics to become one of track and field's biggest stars in the 1950s and '60s, died yesterday of heart failure. He was 71.
Oerter died at a hospital near his Fort Myers Beach home, wife Cathy Oerter said. Oerter won gold medals in 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968. Oerter and Carl Lewis are the only track and field stars to capture the same event in four consecutive Olympics. Oerter, however, is the only one to set an Olympic record in each of his victories.
"His legacy is one of an athlete who embodied all of the positive attributes associated with being an Olympian," said Peter Ueberroth, chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee. "He performed on the field of play with distinction."
Born in New York City, Oerter was 6 feet 4 and once competed at nearly 300 pounds. He dispensed with coaching and conventional training methods, molding himself into a fierce competitor who performed his best when the stakes were highest.
"I can remember those Games truly as if they were a week ago," Oerter told the Associated Press last year.
In Melbourne in 1956, Oerter threw 184 feet, 11 inches on his first toss and watched in amazement when nobody else came close to beating him.
He came from behind to win again in Rome, and overcame torn rib cartilage and other injuries to make it three in a row at the Tokyo Games in 1964.
At 32, he was a long shot in the 1968 field headed by world-record holder Jay Silvester. However, Oerter responded with a personal-best of 212-6 to leave Mexico City with the gold.
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