"For the hero of London 2012 the 800m clash was a personal disaster. Bronze behind gold medal winner Ovett hurt."
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/features/story.jsp?story=681172#top Lord of the Rings David Kelly speaks to the double Olympic champion Seb Coe who secured the 2012 Olympic Games for London 03 March 2006 Lord Seb coe breezed across the hillsborough castle floor with all the ease and grace that brought him gold in moscow and los angeles. Diminutive in stature he may be but whether on the track or schmoosing with the powerbrokers of world sport Coe remains a tactical colossus. It was his masterplan which brought the Olympics to London in 2012 and he wants Northern Ireland as much as anywhere else to feel the benefits. Coe picked up London's Olympic baton in 2004 and from the outside lane he took his team all the way to Singapore and victory over Madrid, Paris et al. "I was always clear that London was the best chance to bring the Games to the UK and I was always sure we had a chance but never sure we would win it," said Coe, following yesterday's announcement by Sports Minister David Hanson of a £50m investment in elite facilities. "But we did the right things and we did it a different way and part of that was a legacy for the future. "It's not a criticism of the other bids. They specifically focused on their own cities whereas we didn't just talk about the UK, we majored on the young in all the world and a legacy left for them. "I want there to be legacies and it's not just about the athletes, about sport, it's about volunteers, it's about design, about writers, it's about people making films... "Politically I believe that for the first time politicians have really begun to understand just what sport means to people and how it can help underprivileged communities. "I know that you could go to clubs in Belfast, boxing clubs, squash whatever and you will have people who have been there 30 or 40 years and they are the unsung, unheralded heroes but hopefully this announcement today (£50m investment in facilities) shows them that they are being recognised. "We have always said that while it is the London Games it is a Games for the UK." This was emphasised by Coe when he spoke of how Northern Ireland had been "the most loyal and truest friends" of the London bid, revealing that support from this region had "at times been higher than London's". Coe also had a special word for former Irish Olympian Maeve Kyle as he held court before the waiting media and dignitaries at Hillsborough. "It's great to see Maeve Kyle here because when I broke the world record for the 800m in 1981 in Florence, Maeve was the team manager and on the way round she wouldn't give me my split because she thought there was something wrong with the watch and even after the race wouldn't tell me it was a world record in case it was wrong and it was my watch! "I left the watch at that world record time for two years until the battery ran out." Whether British and Irish athletes can rise to the heights that he and others such as golden girls Kelly Holmes and Denise Lewis have done six years from now remains to be seen. His fellow athlete and friend Michael Johnson has in the past made his concerns known regarding the structure of athletics, feeling that too many have an easy life at the top in comparison to those from other countries who do not have lottery backing. Coe added: "I think what has been lost is what is needed to be done to produce world class competitors. We've undervalued coaching and there are not enough world class coaches in Track and Field. "And I think we need to be a little more hard-nosed in that we don't accept pockets of under-performance and if that means adjusting national lottery grants to the level of performance then maybe that's what has to happen. "I have great concern about the state of middle distance running but thankfully Dave Moorcroft is now addressing that and it needs to be sorted out." The boy who would one day be king had no such trouble when it came to motivation or the required, 'hard-nosed' approach to becoming a success. Dad Peter was Coe's "biggest influence" and he gave him the knowledge and cold reality of the dedication required in order to fulfil a dream, which was spawned when staring at a flickering black and white screen in 1968. "I wouldn't be sitting here doing this interview had I not watch the 1968 Mexico Olympic games . "For me it is an interesting but insightful story because of what I want to happen off the back of London 2012 Games. "I was marched up to a classroom at 9 o'clock in the morning to watch the highlights of the Olympics because John and Shiela Sherwood from our town were competing. "John got bronze behind David Hemery. Shiela missed out on medal in the long jump and from the moment I saw that I knew that's where I wanted to be and 12 years later I fulfilled that and it all started at school." So the 11-year-old's Olympic torch was burning and he would be destined for an incredible rivalry with fellow Olympic champion Steve Ovett and to a somewhat lesser degree Steve Cram. Coe and Cram divided the nation in the late '70s and early '80s and their two epic encounters held the world in awe. For the hero of London 2012 the 800m clash was a personal disaster. Bronze behind gold medal winner Ovett hurt. "It was the worst race I had ever run but I had to be bullish. I knew I couldn't run that badly again and within a few days I was fortunate I could go out and out that right and I did and I got the gold. "In LA it was a quicker race, in fact it was an Olympic record that stood for some time." As for the hyperbole surrounding the rivalry with Ovett, Coe played it down. "It was never a bitter rivalry we didn't know each other when we were coming through because we did different events and we were from different parts of the country. There's always going to be rivalry when you're both going for the same share of the spoils and the rivalry was unprecedented. Two men from Britain at the same level. "But we are very close, we are good friends. We were not bosom buddies back then but it wasn't that we didn't like each other and in fact we chatted recently and we feel quite proud of the way we did handle it all because we knew that the tabloids take a glass of water and turn it into a five-course meal. "But we handled it with dignity and I think it worked out very well and we are constantly in touch. He's living in Australia and we chat and we e-mail each other almost every week." Now the focus of London's little general is make sure 2012 is remembered as fondly as Moscow, LA and Sydney and with his track record you just know that golden memories and legacies surely await.
