Al Oerter won the Olympic men’s discus throw at four consecutive Summer Games.
The American won gold at Melbourne 1956, Rome 1960, Tokyo 1964 and Mexico City 1968. No other track-and-field athlete had won the same individual event at four consecutive Olympics when Oerter achieved the feat.
Oerter set an Olympic record in each of his four victories, although Olympic records were not always world records. His 1968 winning throw measured 64.78 metres. He competed despite serious injuries, including a neck injury before the Tokyo Games and a rib injury before Mexico City.
Oerter attempted a comeback for the 1980 Olympics and later set age-group records. His achievement is sometimes confused with the four consecutive discus titles won by Lithuanian Virgilijus Alekna’s generation, but Oerter’s four victories came from 1956 through 1968.