Olympic pole vault champion Richards dies at 97

Double Olympic pole vault champion Bob Richards died on Sunday aged 97, his family said on Facebook.

Richards won gold in 1952 in Helsinki and four years later in Melbourne - and remains the only man to win the Olympic event twice. In 1958 he became the first athlete to appear on the front of the American breakfast cereal Wheaties.

Richards became an ordained minister in 1946 and also ran for President of the United States in 1984 on the Populist Party ticket.

"He passed in his sleep peacefully surrounded by loved ones. He is in a better place now and at peace," his son Brandon said.