When Al Oerter died on 1 October 2007, Wilkins became the earliest surviving Olympic champion in the men's discus. Al Oerter From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. Al Oerter, Self: The Way It Was. At the 1956 Olympic games Oerter won the gold medal with a personal best throw of 184 feet 11 inches. Al Oerter was the first man ever to throw the discus over 200 feet, the first of his four world records in a sport he excelled at throughout the 1960s. Oerter died at a hospital near his Fort Myers Beach home, wife Cathy Oerter said. 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. His wife, Cathy Oerter, said doctors at a Fort Myers hospital had told her that the cause was either a heart attack or a blood clot. Oerter’s career blossomed at the University of Kansas under legendary track and field coach Bill Easton. He was the first athlete to win a gold medal in the same individual event in four consecutive Olympic Games. A large man at 6′ 4″ (193 cm) and 280 pounds (127 kg), Oerter was a natural thrower. Oerter is an inductee of the IAAF Hall of Fame. Al Oerter was a discus thrower who became the first modern track and field athlete to win four consecutive Olympic titles in one event. Al Oerter is the man who picked up a 4-pound, 6 1/2-ounce discus in the Olympic Games of 1956, 1960, 1964, and 1968 and hurled it far enough each time to win four gold medals. However, it was overshadowed by the controversial “black power salute” by African American track stars Tommie Smith and John Carlos who were protesting against racism in the United States. Thank you! As before, he bettered his own record with a throw of 61 meters (200 ft). Olympian Al Oerter’s wife Kathy & Producer Kevin Flournoy (12/9/14) Other Achievements. Since Al Oerter’s death in 2007, his wife Cathy has been the recipient of hundreds of messages from people all over the world with stories of being positively impacted by her husband in some way. Wilkins was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.With the death of Al Oerter on 1 October 2007, Wilkins is the earliest surviving Olympic Champion in the Men's Discus. He began his track and field career at the age of 15 when a discus landed at his feet and he threw it back past the crowd of throwers. His wife Cathy Oerter, said “He was a gentle giant. During his career he set new world records four times (1962–64). The Olympics transformed Oerter into an athlete of international stature. He was 71. Alfred Oerter Jr. (September 19, 1936 – October 1, 2007) was an American athlete and a four-time Olympic Champion in the discus throw. Like a river, it keeps flowing, creating frothy rapids and settling in gentle pools. "Al had dealt with high blood pressure since he was young and has also struggled with heart problems," said wife Cathy. He did make an attempt to qualify for the American team in 1980 but he finished fourth. Oerter’s winning throw was a personal best, but more important, his four consecutive gold medals in the same event was a feat no other track and field athlete had ever duplicated. Mike Lindsay, athlete. He won two N.C.A.A. Oerter set and broke many Olympic records. In The Olympics: 80 Years of People, Events, and Records, edited by Lord Killanin and John Rodda, it was acknowledged that Oerter has been “often cited as the Supreme Olympic athletics competitor…” Oerter began his Olympic career at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. In the webpage devoted to Al Oerter’s memory, she has nice words about his fascinating personality: … After graduating from the University of Kansas in 1958, he continued to compete as a discus thrower as a member of the New York Athletic Club. Through the athletes’ creative talents, AOF provides programs of art, education, sport and cultural outreach to inspire individuals and communities to uphold the … He was a colossus of a man who towered over this event setting an impeccable example to the youth of his era and today. In early spring,1967, Douglas Kelban was a junior on the track team at Plainedge High … It shows that Olympians can have another life; we have got art from more than 100 Olympians. Al Oerter, a discus thrower who became the first modern track andfield athlete to win four consecutive Olympic titles in one event andwho competed into his 60s, died today in Fort Myers, Fla. He afterward became a vocal opponent of steroids and drugs. FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - Al Oerter, the discus great who won gold medals in four straight Olympics to become one of track and fields biggest stars … Having established his Olympic credentials once and for all, Oerter dominated the sport of discus throwing on the international scene over the next four years. For these works, Oerter would lay a puddle of a paint on a tarp, and fling a discus into it to create splashing lines on a canvas positioned in front of the tarp. Al Oerter, in full Alfred Oerter, Jr., (born Sept. 19, 1936, Astoria, Queens, N.Y., U.S.—died Oct. 1, 2007, Fort Myers, Fla.), American discus thrower, who won four consecutive Olympic gold medals (1956, 1960, 1964, and 1968), setting an Olympic record each time. Surviving wife Cathy Oerter, Jr. was born in Astoria, new,... ) Other Achievements included making the United States Olympic team in 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968 ) 280. 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