ZURICH (Switzerland), June 26: Viktor Kuzkin, a member of the international ice hockey Hall of Fame who won three Olympic golds with the Soviet Union, has died at the age of 67.

The International Ice Hockey Federation said Kuzkin died of heart failure on Tuesday following a diving accident near the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, which will host the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Kuzkin was a member of the Soviet teams that won three straight Olympic golds between 1964-72, and also won eight world championships.

The Moscow-born defenseman played 169 times for the Soviet Union, scoring 18 goals, and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2005.—AP