Legendary athletics coach John Velzian dies
Nairobi Standard Chartered Marathon race Director John Velzian directs media during the race on October 30, 2011. Velzian died on January 20, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Velzian, who hails from Britain but has lived in Kenya since long before independence, died on Thursday at about 2am while undergoing treatment at the MP Shah Hospital, Nairobi
- Velzian, who was a few weeks shy of his 94th birthday was awarded with World Athletics Coaching Lifetime Achievement Award in November 2011
- Velzian, who had partially lost his sight, was rushed to MP Shah Hospital where he was resuscitated before being admitted to the ward
Legendary athletics coach and administrator John Velzian is dead.
Velzian, who hails from Britain but has lived in Kenya since long before independence, died on Thursday at about 2am while undergoing treatment at the MP Shah Hospital, Nairobi.
Velzian was the first national athletics team head coach until 1968, having led Kenya to their first ever Africa Senior Athletics Championships in 1965.
Velzian, who was a few weeks shy of his 94th birthday was awarded with World Athletics Coaching Lifetime Achievement Award in November 2011, three months after receiving World Athletics (Formerly IAAF) Honorary Plaque from former President, the late Lamine Diack at World Athletics Congress.
The African Athletics Development Centre (AADC) secretary Elizabeth Anono, who confirmed his death, said that the tactician was found unconscious and lying in his bedroom by the house help on Wednesday morning.
Velzian, who had partially lost his sight, was then rushed to MP Shah Hospital where he was resuscitated before being admitted to the ward.
Neighbours had to break his door that was locked from the inside after the house help tried to wake him up in vain.
“The doctors from the hospital called the house help on Thursday morning indicating that the old man had passed on,” said Anono, who celebrated Velzian, a former director at AADC as the father of athletics in the country.
“In our lives, there have been few people as special as John Velzian. He was someone that we felt deeply connected to, and even though he is gone, we feel his presence throughout our region,” said Anono.
Anono detailed that Velzian was passionate in ensuring athletics development is promoted in each member country within the scope of African athletics in English speaking countries.
Athletics Kenya president Jack Tuwei also paid tribute to the late Velzian. “I think nobody in our current environment can match his contributions to the development of athletics in our country and Africa,” said Tuwei, adding that they were in the process of finding more details about Velzian’s death.
Velzian’s daughter Kim, who resides in Canada and son Guy, who is in New Zealand have been informed of their father’s death and were making arrangements to fly in.
Velzian was hired as a physical education officer in Kenya eight years before the country gained independence in 1963 and has devoted his life to athletics, establishing national athletics standards for school children in Kenya.
Velzian, who is a former director of the World Athletics Regional Development Centre, which is situated at the Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani, coached, discovered and developed talent such as the great Kipchoge Keino, who caught the attention of the world at the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games.
Velzain, who had graduated from Carnegie College of Physical Education in Leeds, United Kingdom in 1954, was hired as a physical education officer in Kenya eight years before independence in 1963.
Velzian would devote his life to athletics establishing national athletics standards for school children in Kenya.
