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Four-time Olympic Gold Medalist Al Oerter Dies at 71
Al Oerter, a four-time Olympic gold- medal winner in the discus, died of heart failure. He was 71.
Oerter lost consciousness in an ambulance on the way to a hospital near his home in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, and died at about 6:45 a.m., his wife, Cathy, said.
``He was born with high blood pressure,'' Cathy Oerter said in a telephone interview. ``He had a bad heart, but I thought he was going to live forever.''
Oerter won gold medals in the discus in 1956 in Melbourne, 1960 in Rome, 1964 in Tokyo and 1968 in Mexico City, and was the only athlete to set four consecutive Olympic records. He and long-jumper Carl Lewis also are the only track athletes to win their Olympic events four straight times.
Alfred Adolf Oerter Jr. was born in Hyde Park, New York. High blood pressure kept him off the New York City playgrounds as a child during the 1940s, Cathy Oerter said.
Oerter began throwing when he was 15 after a discus landed at his feet and he threw it back past the group of throwers, according to his biography on the USOC Web site.
He attended the University of Kansas, where he was a two- time national discus champion, and became the first thrower to break the 200-foot barrier in 1962. He competed until he was 49.
At Kansas, where he was coached by Hall of Famer Bill Easton, Oerter won two national collegiate titles. He also won six National AAU titles, improved the world discus record four times and was the 1959 Pan-American Games champion. After retiring in 1968, he returned eight years later to challenge for the 1980 and 1984 Olympic teams. Incredibly, in 1980, he achieved his best-ever throw of 69.44m/227-10.50, at age 43.
Oerter was elected to the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1974 and the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983.
Oerter also worked as a computer specialist for Grumman Aircraft Corp. for 26 years, and four years ago began a new career as an abstract painter, launching his own Web site.
He maintained his Olympic involvement through a program he founded called ``Art of the Olympians,'' which allowed him and other former Olympic athletes to display their artistic talents.
Oerter is also survived by his daughters, Gabrielle and Crystiana, and three grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.
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