Sebastian Coe, Baron Coe
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| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's athletics | |||
| Olympic Games | |||
| Silver | 1980 Moscow | 800 m | |
| Gold | 1980 Moscow | 1,500 m | |
| Silver | 1984 Los Angeles | 800 m | |
| Gold | 1984 Los Angeles | 1,500 m | |
| European Championships | |||
| Bronze | 1978 Prague | 800 m | |
| Silver | 1982 Athens | 800 m | |
| Gold | 1986 Stuttgart | 800 m | |
| Silver | 1986 Stuttgart | 1,500 m | |
Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, KBE (born 29 September 1956 in Chiswick, London) is an English athlete and Conservative Party politician. He was the head of the London bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics. After the International Olympic Committee announced London as the winning bid, Coe became the chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, the organisation in charge of overseeing the development of the Games.
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[edit] Athletics career
Coe won four Olympic medals and set eight outdoor and three indoor world records in middle distance track events. His rivalries with fellow Britons Steve Ovett and Steve Cram dominated middle-distance racing for much of the 1980s.
Coe was born in West London, but was brought up in Sheffield attending Tapton and Abbeydale Grange schools. He joined athletics team Hallamshire Harriers at the age of 12, and quickly became a middle-distance specialist.
He was coached by his father, Peter Coe, who designed workouts specifically for his son.
Coe studied economics and social history at Loughborough University and won his first major race in 1977 - an 800-metre event at the European indoor championships in San Sebastián, Spain.
He first ran against Ovett in a schools cross country race in 1972. Neither won, nor did they win in their first major encounter in the European Championships Prague in 1978 in an 800 metre race. The next year on two occasions in Oslo, Norway, Coe set his first world records in the 800-metre (1:42.33) and mile (3:48.95) races. Later that year, he set the world 1500 metre record (3:32.03) in Zurich, Switzerland.
The most famous races between Ovett and Coe were in the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, where each won the other's speciality, Ovett the 800 metres, and Coe the 1500 metres (Coe came in second in the 800, while Ovett took third in the 1500), handing Ovett his first defeat at either one mile or 1500 metres in three years and 45 races.
Coe broke Rick Wolhuter's world record for 1,000-metres in 1980 with a time of 2:13.40, a time he managed to better in 1981 with a sterling 2:12.18. This world record for the kilometer would stand for the next 18 years. 1981 also saw him better the standard for the mile twice, first with a 3:48.53 in Zürich and then with a 3:47.33 in Brussels. The other world record Coe set that summer came in the 800 metre race in Firenze in June. That world record of 1:41.73 in the 800-metres remained unbeaten until August 1997 when it was tied and then broken by Wilson Kipketer. As of mid-2006 Kipketer is the only person to have run the 800-metres faster than Coe. Not surprisingly, Coe was voted Athlete of the Year by Track & Field News magazine (an honor he had previously won in 1979).
Although he had a short season in 1982, he still managed to rank number one in the world in the 800 metres and participate in a world record relay for the 4 x 800 metres. Coe, along with Peter Elliott, Garry Cook and Steve Cram, produced a 7:03.89, a time that would stand as a world record for 24 years until it was bettered by both the Kenyans and Americans in the summer of 2006.
Although 1983 started out promisingly enough, with world indoor records in the 800 metres (1:44.91, breaking his own WR of 1:46.0 from 1981) in Cosford, England and then in the 1,000 metres (2:18.58) in Oslo, Norway, he spent most of the year battling health problems. By the next summer, Coe was able to return in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He took silver in the 800 metres (behind Joaquim Cruz of Brazil) and gold in the 1500 metres, the latter in a new Olympic record of 3:32.53. He remains the only person to win back to back Olympic 1500 metre titles.
Two years later, he won a gold medal over 800 m at the European Championships in Stuttgart (his only international title at 800m) and set a personal best over 1500 m at 3:29.77 min in Rieti. For the fourth time in his career ('79,'81,'82,'86), Coe ended the year ranked number one in the world in the 800 metres. In a highly controversial decision, he wasn't selected for the British team for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, thus denying him the chance to retain his 1500 metres title for a second time. The then President of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, unsuccessfully tried to have the rules changed to ensure his inclusion.
One scene in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire recreates a race in which the runners attempt to round the perimeter of the Great Court at Trinity College, Cambridge in the time it takes the clock to double strike the hour at midday or midnight. Many have tried to run the 367 metres around the court in the 43 seconds that it takes to strike 12 o'clock. Known as the Great Court Run, students traditionally attempt to complete the circuit on the evening of the Matriculation Dinner. The only people believed to have actually completed the run in time are Lord Burghley in 1927, Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram, whom Coe narrowly beat in a charity race in October 1988.
[edit] Later career
Coe became Member of Parliament for Falmouth and Camborne in 1992, for the Conservative Party, but lost his seat in the 1997 general election. He returned to politics for a short time as William Hague's 'chief of staff', having taken a life peerage in 2000.
When London announced its bid to hold the 2012 Olympics, Coe became an ambassador for the effort and a member of the board of the bid company. With the May 2004 resignation of chairman Barbara Cassani, Coe became the chairman for the latter phase of the bid. As Coe was a well-known personality in Olympic sport, it was felt he was better suited to the political schmoozing needed to secure the IOC's backing. Coe's presentation at the critical IOC meeting in July 2005 was viewed by commentators as being particularly effective, and the bid won the IOC's blessing on July 6.
It is widely felt that Coe could be a future President of the IOC. With his established credentials in sport throughout the Olympic world, he is seen as a passionate person who would be suited to the role. Although he has strongly denied it, he is considered a possible candidate for the 2008 London Mayoral election.
[edit] FIFA
Coe was appointed the first chairman of Fifa's new independent watchdog, the Fifa's ethics commission. The commission will judge all cases alleging conflicts of interest and breaches of Fifa rules.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter made the announcement in Zurich on September 15 and said: "It is perhaps a surprise but it has been very well received, We have found an outstanding personality in the world of sport, a great personality in the Olympic movement."
[edit] Personal life
Coe parted from his wife, Nicola, also involved in sport as a three-day eventer, in 2002, and called the split amicable.
He has also been linked via the tabloid press with Jane Flemming, an Australian athlete who was a business associate. Subsequently he was said to be having a relationship with Tamsyn Lewis, a young Australian 800-metre runner whom he coached - but the story was untrue and the Daily Mail was forced to apologise to him. In May 2004 at the High Court of Justice, Lord Coe failed to stop two Sunday newspapers publishing details of a woman's claims of a ten-year affair in which she became pregnant by him and had an abortion. Coe is now believed to be seeing the daughter of M. J. K. Smith, the former England cricket captain
He is a worldwide ambassador for Nike and owns a string of health clubs with a membership of 20,000. Coe is knowledgeable follower of a wide range of sports, including football (he is a season ticket holder at Chelsea Football Club) and boxing (he was a steward for the British Boxing Board of Control), and has a massive collection of jazz records. He is a millionaire several times over. Coe is also a member of the East India Club in London.
[edit] Awards
Coe was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1982 and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1990.
He was created a life peer in 2000 as Baron Coe, of Ranmore in the County of Surrey.
In December 2005, Coe was given a Special award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the British Empire in the 2006 New Year's Honours List for services to sport.
[edit] Personal bests
| Distance | Mark | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 400 m | 46.87 | 1979 |
| 800 m | 1:41.73 | 1981 |
| 1000 m | 2:12.18 | 1981 |
| 1500 m | 3:29.77 | 1986 |
| Mile | 3:47.33 | 1981 |
| 2000 m | 4:58.84 | 1982 |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Sebastian Coe's entries on the official blog of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
- Sebastian Coe Profile: Made In Sheffield
- Guardian profile of Sebastian Coe
- Sebastian Coe has revamped London's bid for the 2012 Olympics
- Sebastian Coe promises Olympics to remember
- Sebastian Coe greatest race: the 2012 Olympics
- Why London won the games: The Sebastian Coe factor
- Coe Pays Tribute To Lord Stratford
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: David Mudd | Member of Parliament for Falmouth and Camborne 1992–1997 | Succeeded by: Candy Atherton |
| Sporting positions | ||
| Preceded by: Steve Ovett | BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1979 | Succeeded by: Robin Cousins |
| Olympic champions in men's 1500 m |
|---|
|
1896: Teddy Flack | 1900: Charles Bennett | 1904: Jim Lightbody | 1906: Jim Lightbody | 1908: Mel Sheppard | 1912: Arnold Jackson | 1920: Albert Hill | 1924: Paavo Nurmi | 1928: Harry Larva | 1932: Luigi Beccali | 1936: Jack Lovelock | 1948: Henry Eriksson | 1952: Josy Barthel | 1956: Ron Delany | 1960: Herb Elliott | 1964: Peter Snell | 1968: Kip Keino | 1972: Pekka Vasala | 1976: John Walker | 1980: Sebastian Coe | 1984: Sebastian Coe | 1988: Peter Rono | 1992: Fermín Cacho | 1996: Noureddine Morceli | 2000: Noah Ngeny | 2004: Hicham El Guerrouj |
| Post-war British Olympic champions in men's athletics |
|---|
| 1956: Chris Brasher (3000 m steeplechase) | 1960: Don Thompson (50 km walk) | 1964: Ken Matthews (20 km walk) | 1964: Lynn Davies (long jump) | 1968: David Hemery (400 m hurdles) 1980: Allan Wells (100 m) | 1980: Steve Ovett (800 m) | 1980 & 1984: Sebastian Coe (1500 m) | 1980 & 1984: Daley Thompson (decathlon) | 1992: Linford Christie (100 m) | 2000: Jonathan Edwards (triple jump) | 2004: Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish & Mark Lewis-Francis (4 x 100 m relay) |
de:Sebastian Coe et:Sebastian Coe es:Sebastian Coe fr:Sebastian Coe it:Sebastian Coe nl:Sebastian Coe ja:セバスチャン・コー no:Sebastian Coe fi:Sebastian Coe sv:Sebastian Coe
Categories: English athletes | British middle distance runners | Athletes at the 1980 Summer Olympics | Athletes at the 1984 Summer Olympics | Olympic competitors for Great Britain | Olympic gold medalists for Great Britain | Olympic silver medalists for Great Britain | Conservative MPs (UK) | Members of the United Kingdom Parliament from English constituencies | UK MPs 1992-1997 | 2012 Summer Olympics | Sport in Sheffield | Loughborough University alumni | People from Chiswick | Life peers | Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire | Prince of Asturias Award winners | 1956 births | Living people
