John Winter the first and only Australian to win an Olympic High Jump gold medal has died at the age of 83.

Winter became Western Australia’s first Olympic gold medallist jumping 1.98metres at the 1948 Games in London. He also won the High Jump gold medal at the 1950 Auckland Empire Games with a jump of 1.98m.

To mark his outstanding achievement the Winter-Strickland medal was first struck in 2004 to honour WA's first male and female Olympic gold medallists, Winter and Shirley Strickland AO MBE.

The inaugural Medal, awarded for the "Most outstanding performance by a WA Olympian" at the 2004 Games, was won by Ryan Bayley OAM.