LOS ANGELES (AFP, NYTIMES) - Former Olympian Kurt Thomas, the first American to win the world championship gold in gymnastics, died on Friday (June 5) from the complications of a stroke. He was 64.

He had suffered a stroke on May 24, which was caused by tear in the basilar artery of the brain stem, his family said.

"I lost my universe, my best friend and my soulmate of 24 years," Beckie Thomas said. "Kurt lived his life to the extreme, and I will be forever honoured to be his wife."

Thomas competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, but lost a chance to go for a medal in a second Olympics when the Americans boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games.

In the 1978 World Championships in Strasbourg, France, he captured gold in the floor exercise for the United States' first men's title. He repeated the floor exercise gold in the 1979 edition in Fort Worth, Texas.

His gold in France came as a big surprise. The unexpected win led to a delay in the medal ceremony because organisers did not have a copy of the Star-Spangled Banner ready to go.

"I was singing the national anthem, and at the end of it, I closed my eyes, and I dropped my head and I remembered that moment, and I can still remember that moment to this day," he said in a 2003 interview.

He was known for his daring and innovative moves in what came to be called the "Thomas Flair" on the pommel horse and the "Thomas Salto" in the floor exercise. In the "Flair," he flew into a series of wide-swinging leg moves in which he would kick his feet high into the air. The "Salto" involved a dangerous backward move in a tucked position.

He earned a total of six medals at the 1979 World Championships, an American record for medals at a single world meet that Simone Biles equalled only two years ago.

He retired after the US boycott of the Moscow Olympics.