HALL OF FAME No 3... Seb Coe: From Olympics glory to running London 2012, why he's Britain's Golden Boy

By Matt Lawton

PUBLISHED: 19:08 EST, 27 November 2013 | UPDATED: 18:31 EST, 28 November 2013

Sportsmail's brand new Hall of Fame - celebrating the greatest sporting champions in history - continues this week with one of Britain's greatest Olympians.

Each week, one of our team of writers will nominate their latest pick and write why they are being included.

In the third edition of our series, we feature middle-distance master Sebastian Coe. Sportsmail's Chief Sports Reporter Matt Lawton explains why the man who won gold medals then helped secure the 2012 Games for London deserves the accolade.

When it comes to the filming of Gold, the movie that will chart the great rivalry between Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, one can only hope the directors resist the temptation to have full-length shots of Daniel Radcliffe running in any of the scenes.

Admittedly I’ve never seen the star of the Harry Potter series in action, but I think it’s safe to assume the diminutive actor will not float across the tartan with the finesse of the man he is playing.

Ignore such a detail and I fear the film, however well scripted and directed it might prove to be, will have me cursing for lacking such attention to detail when Coe’s running style was so central to his success and central, too, to why we enjoyed watching him compete. At the very least they should use a body double. Perhaps even the man himself.

VIDEO: Scroll down for highlights from Coe's stellar career

Poetry in motion: Coe's running style was so central to his success and to the enjoyment of watching him race

Track magic: Coe will be played by Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe (right) in the film Gold

Not a natural runner: Radcliffe (centre) on the move in the Harry Potter movies

He'll need a spell of training: Harry Potter star Radcliffe will struggle to emulate Coe's running style

Forgive the cliché but Coe really was poetry in motion; that smooth, seemingly effortless stride of a man whose legs were unusually long for the ultra-light 5ft 9in frame.

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of joining Coe, with two colleagues, for a morning run in the snow in Zurich. We were there for a World Cup draw that proved utterly disastrous for the Football Association.

But a few hours before FIFA declared that ‘Russia’ and ‘Qatar’ had somehow landed the big prize I was thrilled by the prospect of living a bit of a boyhood dream. It was going to be wonderful. The chance to run along the shore of Zurich’s idyllic lake while listening to Coe retelling stories of his world record heroics in the very same city. 

But then, to my disappointment I must confess, came the sight of Boris Johnson emerging from the lift in the hotel lobby. Dressed in baggy shorts, the white shirt he’d been wearing the previous evening, a moth-eaten V-neck jumper, black socks and a pair of old running shoes, it quickly became clear that London’s portly mayor was joining us. Worse still, Coe informed us, Boris would be acting as pacemaker.

VIDEO: Coe wins the Olympic 1500m in Moscow in 1980

Mental strangth: Seb Coe (centre, No 254) crosses the line to win 1500m gold at the 1980 OLympics in Moscow, just days after he had finished second in the 800m behind Steve Ovett (below)

Mum's the word: Coe hugs his mother Angela in front of their Sheffield home after glory at the 1980 Olympics

Golden boy: Holds up his gold medal in front of neighbours at his Sheffield home in 1980

Best of British: Ovett (left), Steve Cram and Coe in action in the 1500m final at the 1984 Olympics

In with a shout: Coe (right) wins the 1500m at the 1984 LA Olympics ahead of Cram (left) in second

Winning smile: Coe (centre) beams on top of the podium in Moscow

VIDEO: Coe wins 1500m gold in Los Angeles in 1984

It was so painfully slow it was a struggle to even get warm, but as Boris huffed and puffed one could not help but notice how serenely the man alongside him, a man now in his mid-50s, still managed to glide across the powdery surface. He barely left footprints.

Coe and Ovett were naturals, even if Coe was a little slower to develop than the physically mature teenager that would rival him as a junior as well as a senior.

Ovett had an incredible range of ability that enabled him to win the English schools 400m and finish second in the English schools cross-country; an achievement, to my mind, every bit as staggering as the success he enjoyed later in his career.

But Coe also possessed a breathtaking combination speed and endurance, and while that was obvious with the burst of acceleration he could produce at the end of a 1500m, not to mention his stunning ability against the clock over 800m, I discovered more during my years at university.

While nothing like as talented as Coe, I followed him to Loughborough and became part of a middle distance training group that would often listen to stories about his days there.

Learning curve: Coe and Cram race round the quadrangle at Cambridge University in 1988

Handling the weight of expectation: Coe pumps iron at his secret training camp before the 1980 Olympics

Taking a deep breath: Having a fitness test with a doctor in 1980

Showing the drive to succeed: Arriving at Manchester Airport by car in 1979

Food for thought: Sir Jimmy Young (centre) with Coe (left) and JPR Williams the Men of the Year Luncheon at the Savoy Hotel in 1979

Running jump: Coe tries to leap over a cone in 1979, and picking up his OBE at Buckingham Palace in 1982

Sporting greats: Coe (second right) with Lindsey MacDonald, Lester Piggot and Sharron Davies at the Sportswriters' Dinner in 1980

Kicking on: Coe with Deborah Rayner, Maxine Shores and Jan Leeming at the Young Citizen's Awards in 1983

After a Tuesday night interval session George Gandy - the legendary Loughborough athletics coach and biomechanics lecturer who would introduce Coe and his father, Peter, to the strength training that would become an intrinsic part of his programme – would hold court in the Forest Gate pub and tell us about the skinny economics undergraduate who could blitz the long interval sessions on a Tuesday (far quicker than we ever could) and then train with the sprinters on a Thursday.

Coe was not just the finest distance runner at Loughborough. As a 46-second 400m runner he could take on the powerfully-built speed merchants too. The kind of physiology they would even struggle to create with genetic doping.  

Of course, he also had what distinguishes the great from the good; a mental toughness that made him the ultimate competitor; an inner strength that enabled him to recover from the crushing disappointment of losing to Ovett in the 800m in Moscow to win 1500m gold a few days later.

Let the Games begin: Coe reacts after the announcement of London as 2012 host city in 2005

Lording it: Coe in his robes in the House of Lords and being presented with the Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award by the Duchess of Cambridge in 2012

 

Kate presents Lord Coe with his Lifetime Achievement award

Dancing to a different tune: Coe is given exercises by dancers from the English National ballet

Sling it in: Lord Coe's efforts to promote London's bid were hampered after he scaled himself

On his bike: Coe, Sean Fitzpatrick, Matthew Pinsent, Daley Thompson and Hugo Porta on Stage Six of the 'Laureus Breaking the Cycle of Violence' ride from Manchester to London in 2009

Logan's Run: LOCOG chairman Coe Coe speaks with TV presenter Gabby Logan at the 2012 Olympics

That he then won the 1500m again in Los Angeles four years after that – he remains the only man to have successfully defended the Olympic 1500m title – was a further demonstration of that iron will, given the injury and illness problems he had endured the previous couple of years. 

Prompted by the recent news of this movie being made, I tried to secure an interview with Ovett. He now lives in Australia and, in politely declining the invitation to reflect on a golden era in British sport, a time when athletics would consistently knock football off the back pages, he expressed his surprise that anyone would be interested in watching a recreation of his career on the silver screen.

He would probably be alone in feeling that, because here was a moment in history when Great Britain boasted two of the finest athletes the world has ever seen. Who even today, with improved training methods and nutrition, would have been good enough to win medals and set world records.

I do agree with Ovett on one thing, though. Radcliffe as Coe? ‘Baffling,’ was how Ovett put it, even if his verdict was determined more by an inner modesty than my concerns about Harry Potter’s running style.

 

Lord Coe talks about how his experience as an athlete helped him...

By royal appointment: Coe with the Queen and (below) Princes William and Harry during the 2012 Olympics

Princely sum: Prince William (left), Sebastian Coe and Prince Harry watch Zara Philips at the Olympics

Towering figures: With London Mayor Boris Johnson unveiling the Olympic rings on Tower Bridge

Becks appeal: Surveying the Olympic Stadium in 2010 with fellow bid supporter David Beckham

Major player: The then-Conservative MP speaks to Prime Minister John Major in 1997

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Dim, Monchengladbach, Germany, 1 month ago

Best EVER.

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JMOWT, Belfast, United Kingdom, 1 month ago

That picture of Coe, Cram and Ovett at the '84 Olympics makes me go all misty-eyed. What an era for British athletics that was and Seb Coe was probably the greatest runner I have ever seen in my lifetime.

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Ross, birmingham, 1 month ago

The 1981 800m world record 1.41.73 is, in my view, the greatest athletics world record. Better than Bolt, Beamon et al. Still 30+ years one of the quickest men in history over the distance. Outstanding career.

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logojobe, Scunthorpe, 1 month ago

To me, and this is a purely subjective opinion, over the 40 years I've been watching athletics Seb Coe and Michael Johnson are the 2 greatest athletes I've ever seen.

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Albie Alright, somewhere your not, United Kingdom, 1 month ago

i think you can also add to that list Britains very own Daley Thompson who was an incredible athlete and was the best at what he does for a decade

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