Former U.S. Olympic track champion Harrison Dillard dies at 96

Former U.S. athlete Harrison Dillard poses for pictures with a 1948 Olympic Torch during a photocall at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. / VCG Photo

Harrison Dillard, who was the U.S.' oldest living Olympic champion, died after battling stomach cancer, at age 96 on Friday.

Dillard won the 1948 100m title in London, finishing in 10.3 seconds to equal the Olympic record.

Four years later in Helsinki, he added the 110m hurdles title and remains the only man to win both Olympic events.

He also won 4x100m relay titles at each Olympic Games to match the career gold-medal total of Jesse Owens, whose victory parade in Dillard's native Cleveland proved an inspiration for the then 13-year-old Dillard.

Harrison Dillard (second from right) in action during the first heat of the men's 110 meters hurdles at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. He went on to win the gold medal. / VCG Photo

Dillard began hurdling earlier at eight, practicing in an alley and using abandoned car seat springs as barriers.

Nicknamed "Bones" for being slender, he served in World War II in Europe as a member of the Buffalo Soldiers, African-American troops who fought in Italy from 1943-45.

Three years after the war, Dillard returned to Europe to compete in the 1948 London Olympic Games, but not in his primary event.

At the trials, he had an 82-race win streak in the hurdles but failed to finish.

He rectified that in Finland four years later when he won in 13.7 seconds to break the Olympic record.

A publicist for the Cleveland Indians baseball team, a local radio commentator and a sports columnist in later life, Dillard was honored at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.