He was 86.

The Alaska Republican is best remembered in the sports world as the author of the bill that reconstructed the American Olympic Movement in 1978.

The Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act brought centralised control of sports to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and generated the idea of creating national governing bodies to run the individual sports.

Today, the Stevens bill remains the template that leaders in the Olympic movement must adhere to - a law that attempts to protect athletes and gives the USOC authority to run the Olympic business in the United States.

Stevens was also a proponent of Title IX - the landmark legislation designed to give women equal opportunities in sports.

Before the Stevens act, the USOC had to battle with the NCAA, AAU and other organisations over the rights to bring athletes onto American teams.

By creating national governing bodies for the individual sports, the athletes had independent organisations that would funnel them into the Olympic Movement.

"No one in American political life did more for amateur sports than Ted," said Dick Ebersol, the chairman of NBC Universal Sports and Olympics.

"He helped to restructure the US Olympic Movement in a way that has contributed to the success of our athletes at the Olympic Games," said Scott Blackmun, the chief executive of the USOC.

"He was a champion of sport in America and our US Olympic teams."

Stevens died when the amphibious DeHavilland DHC-3T Otter he travelling o flew into the side of the mountain, which has a 40-degree slope, on Monday night and skidded about 200 feet.

Poor weather was blamed for the accident.

Four others were also killed but four survived, although two are in critical condition.

Stevens' first wife had been killed in an air accident in 1978, the same year that he introduced his landmark legislation.

"Ted Stevens showed invaluable leadership for the Olympic Movement at a time when it needed to be shaped," said USA Gymnastics President Steve Penny.

"His legacy is secure in that regard."