The Russian, the Barcelona 1992 bronze medallist, has passed away at the age of 61.

He is the third Olympic hammer medallist to die in less than two months following the deaths in September of double gold medallist Yuriy Sedykh and two-time bronze medallist Jüri Tamm.

All three had competed for the Soviet Union.

The cause of Nikulin’s death was not reported by the Russian Athletics Federation.

Nikulin, whose father had finished fourth in the hammer at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, was a prodigious young talent.

He set a world under-23 record of 83.54 metres when finishing second at the European Championships in Athens behind team-mate Sergey Litvinov.

Nikulin won bronze medals at the 1986 and 1990 European Championships in Stuttgart and Split, respectively.

He competed for the Unified Team at Barcelona 1992 following the break-up of the Soviet Union – his only Olympic appearance after his country’s boycott of Los Angeles 1984 and failing to qualify for Seoul 1988.

The Unified Team swept the podium in the Spanish city with Andrey Abduvaliyev winning the gold, Igor Astapkovich the silver and Nikulin the bronze.

Nikulin also won two bronze medals at the Summer Universiade at Bucharest 1981 and Kobe 1985.

Sedykh, winner of the Olympic gold medal at Moscow 1980 and silver at Seoul 1988, died following a heart attack.

Shortly afterwards, his former team-mate Tamm, third at Moscow 1980 and Seoul 1988, also died.