Athletics-Hammer world record holder Sedykh dies aged 66

(Reuters) - Yuriy Sedykh, the world hammer throw record holder and two-times Olympic champion, has died at the age of 66, World Athletics said on Tuesday.

Sedykh, who competed for the Soviet Union, won gold at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics and his only world title at the age of 36 at the 1991 championships in Tokyo. His 86.74 metre throw at the 1986 European Championships is still a world record.

"For me, Yuriy was a friend, a wise mentor, to whom I am deeply grateful that we shared life experience and human values," Sergei Bubka, World Athletics senior vice president and pole vault great, wrote on Twitter https://twitter.com/sergey_bubka/status/1437727805417168898.

"An outstanding two-time Olympic Champion, whose fantastic World record in Hammer Throw (86.74) for 35 years is still not broken... We will always remember Yuriy."

(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)

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