LOS ANGELES, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) announced on Monday that four-time U.S. Olympian and four-time gold medalist Al Oerter has died at the age of 71.

Oerter passed away at Health Park Medical Center in Fort Myers, Fla., of heart failure, the USOC said in a statement.

"Al was a great man who lived life to the fullest and cherished every day he spent on this earth," said his wife Cathy Oerter. "He always said he would leave this world content and with no regrets. He loved life."

Oerter's prowess in the discus became legendary when he won his fourth consecutive gold medal at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. He was one of the only two men to achieve the feat of winning the same event in four consecutive Games.

"The Olympic Movement lost one of its great ambassadors today with the passing of Al Oerter," said USOC Chairman of the Board Peter Ueberroth. "His legacy is one of an athlete who embodied all of the positive attributes associated with being an Olympian. He performed on the field of play with distinction and transferred that excellence to the role of advocate for the Olympic Movement and its ideals. He will be missed, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and many friends."

Oerter began his Olympic career at the 1956 Games in Melbourne, Australia, where he won his first Olympic gold.

He went on to compete and win gold in Rome, Italy in 1960 and Tokyo, Japan in 1964 before his final triumph in Mexico City. Oerter actually retired for eight years after his Olympic achievements, only to return and still have the skills to be a nationally ranked thrower.

An Olympian who valued culture in the same manner as athletics, Oerter began his serious artistic pursuits in 1980 when Anheuser-Busch commissioned him and other renowned athletes to create works for the U.S. Olympic Team. Each athlete had to use the equipment required in his or her sport - a hockey stick, track shoes, etc. -as a part of the exhibit. Oerter used his discus to create a piece of art that sparks a greater calling.

The 1980 assignment furthered Oerter's zeal to expand his belief in art as a way to showcase the positive attributes of sport. Oerter went on to create the exhibit "Art of the Olympians," which has been displayed at the United Nations and in other New York City venues.