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Olympic icon, decathlon champion Rafer Johnson dies at 86

Decathlon champion and Olympic icon Rafer Johnson died at his home in Los Angeles on Wednesday, his family confirmed to the Los Angeles Times.

He was 86.

An Olympic icon

Johnson attended UCLA in the 1950s, where he served as student body president and even played a season for legendary coach John Wooden in 1958. He won the Pan American Games in 1955 while he was a freshman at UCLA and then snapped the world record in the decathlon, though he finished second in the event the following year at the Melbourne Olympics while battling a knee and stomach injury.