Nambiar, coach of Usha, passes away

He transformed the village girl into Asia’s ‘Golden Girl’

O.M. Nambiar, the man who transformed a village girl P.T. Usha into Asia’s Golden Girl, passed away at Payyoli in Kozhikode on Thursday evening. He was 89 and is survived by his wife, three sons and a daughter. One of India’s most famous coaches, Nambiar spotted Usha at a very young age in 1976 and soon began coaching her at the Kannur Sports Division. Under his guidance, Usha began winning medals at the Asian level but his best move was making the sprinter switch to the 400m hurdles before the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. And Usha almost came very close to winning independent India’s first Olympic medal, missing it by one hundredth of a second. That transformed the sport in the country and inspired thousands of children to take up athletics. The wait for the Olympic medal only ended early this month with javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra’s gold in Tokyo.