Fred Kudu (1917-1988) was a legendary coach, teacher, organiser and charismatic sports persona in Estonia. He has been called the professor of decathlon, as he had more than 300 students including Heino Lipp, Rein Aun, Mykola Avilov, Valter Külvet and others.
Fred Kudu was the long-time senior coach of the Soviet Union team of multi-athletes; he was also their Olympic team coach for five Olympics. Kudu was the founder of the Faculty of Exercise and Sport Sciences at the University of Tartu as well as of Kääriku Sports Centre. His students remember their teacher as a charismatic and extremely wise person, who had a sparkling personality and who loved sports more than anything else. An annual competition named after him has been organised in his memory since 1990.
It's a competition with a long tradition held by the non-profit organization K-KLUBI. This club unites the former students and supporters of Kudu. The aim of the competition is to commemorate Kudu as the most distinguished Estonian decathlon coach, to continue the traditions of decathlon in Estonia and to promote combined events among children and adolescents.
The initial aim of the organisers is to develop the memorial meeting into an international sports event in the future, whereas their ultimate aim is to enter the meeting into the IAAF competition calendar.
