The Athletics fraternity is mourning the death of long-serving national team coach Peter Mathu who passed away last week. Mathu had a distinguished career in athletics coaching, having served in various capacities for over 30 years. Mathu coached the Kenya team to the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi India where the athletics team won 11 gold medals—the highest ever.
He also served as a coach to the national team to World Athletic Championships in 2011 in Daegu, South Korea where Kenya finished second on the standings with seven gold, eight silver and three bronze medals. He also served as head coach to the Kenya Olympics teams 2004 in Athens and 2008 in Beijing. He was later appointed head coach of the Thailand national athletics team for the 2012 London Olympics and Rio 2016. At the time of his death, he was one of Kenya's mountain running coaches and developer. Athletics Kenya (AK) Nyanza South chairman Peter Angwenyi described him as one of the most refined coaches of his generation. "He handled most of our teams from cross country, track and recently mountain running, leaving no doubt about his versatility in athletics," he added.
Angwenyi said Mathu trained with the likes of Mike Kosgey, Elizabeth Olaba, Dan Muchoki among others in Germany under the Kenya exchange programme.
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