New Delhi: Sprint queen P.T. Usha’s coach O.M. Nambiar passed away on Thursday. He was 89.
He is often remembered as one of India’s first Dronacharya awardee. In 2021, Nambiar was conferred the Padma Shri.
“The passing of my guru, my coach, my guiding light is going to leave a void that can never be filled. Words cannot express his contribution to my life. Anguished by the grief. Will miss you OM Nambiar sir. RIP,” P.T. Usha wrote on her twitter handle.
Born in 1932 in a small village near Payyoli in Kannur, Kerala — incidentally also P.T. Usha’s native place — Othayothu Madhavan Nambiar was a track and field athlete since his college days. Nambiar joined the Indian Air Force in 1955 and continued his athletics career. Despite various successes at National meets, his dream of representing India remained an unfulfilled dream during his athletics career. As a coach, though, Nambiar lived that dream and much more.
He earned his coaching degree from the famed National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala and began his career by training athletes from the Services (Army, Navy, Air Force).
He came back to his native State in 1970 after taking up an offer to serve as a coach for the Kerala Sports Council. It was during this stint that Nambiar spotted P.T. Usha while attending the prize distribution ceremony after the selection trials for the Kannur division in 1976. What followed was an incredible student-teacher relationship that propelled P.T. Usha to become one of the leading Asian sprinters of her era.
This post was published on August 20, 2021 5:40 pm