Litvinov, now a successful coach, was riding a bicyle home following a training session yesterday when he collapsed.

He had reportedly been suffering from heart problems, according to the RusAF. 

Originally from Krasnodar, Litinov won an Olympic silver medal at Moscow 1980 but missed Los Angeles 1984 due to the Soviet-led boycott. 

He also won the gold medal at the International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships at Helsinki 1983 and Rome 1987.

Litvinov also won a bronze medal at the European Championships in Athens in 1982 and silver at Stuttgart in 1986.

He set three world records during his career, the last being 84.14 metres in June 1983.

His great rival Yuri Sedykh broke the world record the following year, throwing 86.34m.

Litvinov never regained it, although he did throw 86.04m in 1986. 

That throw remains the third best in history behind Sedykh, whose performance of 86.74m to beat Litvinov at the European Championships in 1986 remains the world record,

"The departure of the great athlete and the famous coach in the past is a huge loss and loss for both Russian and world athletics," the RusAF statement said. 

Among the athletes Litvinov coached was his son - also called Sergei - who won a bronze medal the hammer at the 2014 European Championships in Zurich.

Other athletes he trained included Ivan Tsikhan.

The Belarusian won Olympic silver medals at Athens 2004 and Rio 2016 and a bronze at Beijing 2008.

He was stripped of the first medal from Athens, however, in 2012 following a retest of his sample detected traces of banned anabolic steroids.