The news of his death yesterday was conveyed to many via a tweet from Trinidad and Tobago’s 1997 world 200m champion and four-time Olympic sprint medallist Ato Boldon, now working as an analyst for NBC Sports.

The tweet reads: "Legendary UCLA Bruin 110-metre hurdler Greg Foster passed away tonight.

"He was the world champion in 1983, 1987, and 1991 and the Olympic silver medallist in 1984 in Los Angeles.

"Deepest condolences to his family and friends.

"The track and field world mourns this hurdling legend."

Foster was a dominant figure in 110 metres hurdling during the 1980s and early 1990s.

As well as his world titles and Olympic silver medal he also won the world indoor 60m hurdles title in 1991 and set a world 60m hurdles record of 7.36sec.

He was a two-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1978 and 1980.

His personal best time for the 110 metres hurdles was 13.03, run at the 1981 Weltklasse meeting In Zurich in which his compatriot Renaldo "Skeets" Nehemiah became the first man to break the 13 second barrier, clocking 12.93.

At that point, Foster was the second-fastest hurdler of all time.

Hugely consistent, Foster was ranked in the top ten hurdlers in the world for 15 out of 16 years from 1977 to 1992.

During five of those years - 1982, 1983, 1986, 1987 and 1991 - he was ranked world number one.

Foster was suspended from athletics for six months in 1990 after testing positive for ephedrine, which he said was contained in his asthma medication.

He was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1998.

Since 2015 Foster had battled with amyloidosis, a rare and deadly disease that impacts the heart, and he had heart transplant surgery on January 18 2020.

You can read Mike Rowbottom's reflections on the life of Greg Foster in today's blog here.