Legendary Kenyan athletics coach John Velzian, who laid the foundations for the country's track and field success at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, died on Thursday in Nairobi aged 93 years. Athletics Kenya president Jack Tuwei paid tribute to Velzian, the country's first post-independence athletics coach, who helped establish the careers of double Olympic 1500m and 3000m steeplechase gold medallist Kipchoge Keino and Wilson Kiprugut at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. British-born Velzian remained in Kenya after independence in 1963 and was employed as games tutor to improve the physical education programme in the fast-growing schools system. World Athletics awarded Velzian a Coaching Lifetime Achievement Award in November 2011. "In our lives, there have been few people as special as John Velzian," World Athletics said in a statement.

Source: The Star January 21, 2022 09:32 UTC