Who is sebastian coe

As an athlete he won Olympic gold medals in the metres in and and set 12 middle-distance world records. Sebastian Coe was born in London in and then his family moved to Sheffield. It was there that he joined the athletics team at Hallamshire Harriers, specialising in middle distance events. One of the all-time greats of middle distance running, Sebastian Coe went on to lead the delivery of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

To find out more, consult our Cookie Policy. Back Academy Member. A holder of four Olympic medals and eight outdoor and three indoor world records, he dominated middle distance running for much of the s.

His easy rhythmic running style made him one of the most popular athletes to watch. In , he matched his achievements on the track by first winning, then delivering the highly successful London Olympic and Paralympic Games, as Chairman of the Organising Committee. In he was presented with the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition. He began his running career at 12 when he joined Sheffield's Hallamshire Harriers in the North of England.

Throughout his career Lord Coe has found success by leading from the front to make vision a reality. Lord Coe brings energy, passion and innovation to all his work - qualities which captivate his audiences the world over. Coe, who is married with four children, has received numerous honours throughout his life. Eight years later he was made OBE. Continue Reading ». Sebastian Coe. Ranges are presented as a guideline only. Only an hour later, however, Ovett beat Coe's mile record, running the distance in One week before the Olympics, Ovett tied Coe's record for the 1, meters, adding to the pressure.

Sandrock wrote, "As the Games got underway, Ovett and Coe could not have been more evenly matched. Each had two world records and [they] were co-owners of a third. I thought people had exaggerated, but they hadn't. There was no comparison. In the morning he was clumsy, knocking over his orange juice and spilling the cream for his coffee. Finally, the race began. Coe stayed at the back, planning to come on strong in the end and surge to the front, but Ovett was ahead of him.

Coe could not catch him on the final stretch. Ovett won the gold, and Coe received the silver, upset at what he considered his inept performance. Coe and his father decided that, in the 1, meters, he would not stay in the back.

He would, instead, run for the front and stay there. He settled into second place behind German Jurgen Straub, and the pace was slow. When half the race was run, Straub began to sprint, and Coe knew that now the race would be his kind of race: the same kind of hard, fast, intense and sustained running he did in training.

He knew he could do that better than anyone else in the world, and he surged forward and kicked past Straub. According to Sandrock, he wrote, "I was now running for the tape, the mental agony of knowing I had hit my limit, of not knowing what was happening back there behind me.

I was not to know they were fading, too. The anxiety over the last 20 meter was unbearable, and it showed in my face as I crossed the line. Coe had won the gold. As he circled the track on his victory lap, he felt freed of the tension and weight of competition, as if he could retire from running now and be satisfied with what he had accomplished in the sport. Coe did not retire, but he did take time off. He and Ovett avoided running in the same races for the next four years.

In , Coe beat his own meter record with a time of He and Ovett then traded record mile times back and forth throughout August of that year. Coe's record stood until , when it was broken by Steve Cram.

In , Coe was ill with a blood infection. Some believed he would not make it to the Los Angeles Olympics in Still recovering, he began training.