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According to the bookmakers Seb Coe would become the 1980 Olympic
800m. champion with Steve Ovett taking the 1500m gold. Coe was the
world's fastest man ever over two laps (he himself said he went "to win
the 800m.") whereas Ovett had just equalled the world 1500m. record and
smashed the world one mile record (3min. 48.8 sec). The odds of either
doing the "double", however, were such that there were no safe
predictions, as events proved.
But for Coe to finish second to Ovett in a
time just under 1min. 46sec. was a major surprise, Seb was after all
the world's only sub-1min. 43sec. performer. Such a surprise that the
question being asked was: is Coe a 'winner' at the ultimate level? It
was a silly question in hindsight !
Unlike the 800m final, in which Seb
got bumped and boxed, the 1500m. was just as he might have wished. The
East German Jurgen Straub did all the hard work (rewarded with the
silver medal) and Seb was able to run a race more to his liking - less
physical. His reaction to victory is for ever recorded by photographs like the one above,
although his winning time of 3min. 38.4 sec. was unremarkable (Ovett
had run 3min. 36.8sec. in the first round).
But the Olympics for the
great athletes is about winning (for lesser mortals it is about taking
part) and the victory confirmed he was now well on the way to becoming
an all-time great of middle distance running. Even so it was six years
before Seb finally won an 800m. title of importance (1986 European) and
he never regained his 1500m. world record, though he broke the 3min.
30sec. barrier - also in 1986.
He did, of course, achieve something of
historic significance in Los Angeles in 1984 but that, as they say, is
another story (or another page on "Sporting-Heroes"!) (George Herringshaw)
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