"I deeply mourn the passing of Yuri Sedych.
For me, Yuri was a friend and a wise mentor ", writes pole vault legend Sergej Bubka who was a contemporary of Sedych in the national team.
Sedych won the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976 and at home in Moscow in 1980, missed the Games in Los Angeles in 1984 due to the boycott and then took a silver in Seoul in 1988. He also won a World Cup gold in 1991.
Denied doping
His world record, which still stands, he set at the European Championships in Stuttgart in 1986. It reads 86.74.
This year's world best, the Pole Pawel Fajdek answered with 82.98.
The Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenko wrote in a book last year that Sedych used steroids in large quantities.
In an interview in 2015, Sedych denied the accusation and said that his success was due to better training and that the Soviet Union was at the forefront of talent development.
After his career, Sedych worked in Paris, France, as a teacher with questions about physical development on the program.
He was married to Natalya Liskovskaya who won the shot put at the Olympics in Seoul in 1988. Her 22.63 is also a world record today.