The Jamaican-born athlete, who represented his birth country at the 1958 Commonwealth Games, won medals for Britain in the 90 kilograms class at two Olympic Games - bronze at Rome 1960 and silver at Tokyo 1964.

Martin also won the World Weight Lifting Championships four times between 1959 and 1965, was a double world record holder, four-time European champion and a three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

He was equally successful a domestic competitions, having secured a number of titles and records.

After his retirement from competitive action, Martin spent more than 30 years coaching athletes at his Olympic weightlifting gym in Derby and remained heavily involved in British Weight Lifting as its President.

He was also a Torchbearer for the London 2012 Olympic Games Torch Relay, which he described as "one of my best Olympic experiences".

Louis Martin remains the most successful weightlifter ever to represent Great Britain, winning medals in the 90kg class at two Olympic Games ©Getty Images


Tamás Aján, President of the International Weight Lifting Federation, led the tributes to Martin.

"I am very saddened to hear about Louis Martin passing away," he said.

"Indeed, he was the biggest personality in British weightlifting and an iconic figure of the sport overall."

British Weight Lifting chief executive Ashley Metcalfe added: "It's a very sad day, not just for British Weight Lifting but for the whole weightlifting community.

"Louis had an exceptional record over a decade which is unlikely to be surpassed in the future.

"He was a true legend of the sport and was an inspiration for an entire generation of British weightlifters and will be sadly missed by all.

"British Weight Lifting offers its condolences to Louis' family and friends, our thoughts are with them at this very sad time."

Martin's funeral will take place at 1:45pm local time on February 2 at St Lawrence Church in Heanor, Great Britain.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]