Renowned athletics coach OM Nambiar, who nurtured one of India’s greatest track and field stars PT Usha, died here on Thursday owing to age-related illness. He was 89.

Nambiar is survived by his wife Leela, three sons and a daughter. He passed away at his residence in Vadakara, a coastal town in Kerala’s Kozhikode district.

One of the first Dronacharya Award winners and this year’s Padma Shri awardee, Nambiar was hospitalised around a week ago, after which he was brought back home.

Usha said Nambiar, who was battling Parkinson’s disease, had a heart attack 10 days ago. She termed his demise a huge personal loss.

“It’s a huge loss for me. He was a father figure to me and my achievements would not have been there if he was not there. I met him only last week after Neeraj (Chopra) won the Olympic gold. He could understand what I was saying but he could not speak,” Usha said.

A former air force man, Nambiar turned several young talents into international athletes during his tenure as coach, including Usha, who missed a bronze medal in the 400m hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics by one-hundredth of a second.

Some of the other international medal-winning athletes he coached include Shiny Wilson (four-time Olympian and 1985 Asia Championships gold winner in 800m) and Vandana Rao.

Born in Kannur in 1932, Nambiar was a fine athlete during his college days at Guruvayurappan College in Kozhikode. He had joined the armed forces on the advice of his college principal and continued his career in athletics.

He served the Indian Air Force for 15 years and retired in 1970 as a sergeant. He completed his coaching diplomas from the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala and started training the Services athletes.