Mel Patton, a double gold medal-winning sprinter at the 1948 London Olympic Games, has died aged 89.
University of Southern California said on Wednesday that he died on May 9 at Fallbrook in California, near San Diego.
Patton set world records in the (then) 100-yard and 220-yard dashes. He ran a world-record time of 9.3 seconds in the 100 in 1948, and ran 20.2 seconds in the 220 on a straight in 1949 to break Jesse Owens' world mark.
He won the 200 and was on the gold medal-winning 400m relay team in London. He finished fifth in the 100, and ranked first in the world in the event in 1947 and 1949. He owned the No.1 world ranking in the 200 from 1947-49.
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