A lot of younger sports fans may not recall Al Oerter. Oerter was an Olympic discus thrower who won gold medals in four consecutive Olympics, in 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968 during an era when it seemed everything that involved the Unites States and the Soviet Union -- from the space race to  international athletics -- was a proxy in the relentless struggle between democracy and Communism.  Oerter died today in Florida at age 71.

Oerter (right) was particularly special because his Olympic stardom stretched across 16 years -- he won his fourth medal at what then seemed to me the Methuselah-like age of 32.  Remarkably, he would have qualified as an alternate in his mid-40s for the 1980 Olympics but the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics derailed that comeback.

Later, Oerter became an accomplished painter creating abstract art. In an interview with USA Today, Oerter compared art with training for the Olympics and said he saw similarities in that they both required him to be "inventive."

There was one substantial difference, though. Painting, Oerter said, was "a lot easier on the knees, let me tell you."

Photo credit:  Associated Press