Wednesday 01 November, 2000
Seb Coe: Running For Office
Sebastian Coe won four Olympic medals and broke no fewer than 12 world records during his career as a middle distance runner. Having retired from the track in 1990, Coe remained in the public eye and began a new career in politics. He is now right-hand man to the leader of the British opposition - William Hague.
Having recently returned from the Sydney 2000 Olympics, where he was a spectator, in About Face Coe discusses how it felt to win an Olympic gold and his transition from athletics to politics.
For Lord Sebastian Coe life has been divided by two loves. In the late 1970s and throughout the 80s he was the British star of the track. Regularly racing against fellow competitor Steve Ovett, Coe was the meticulous runner who fought his way to the finishing line, collecting gold medals and setting records along the way.
In the 1990s Coe’s career took a different path. Having retired from the track, he pursued his second love and became the Conservative MP for Falmouth and Cambourne. After holding the post for five years, Coe went on to become the chief aide of the British leader of the opposition and is currently responsible for the day-to-day running of the opposition office. Of his change in career he has commented:
‘Sport was always purely an enjoyable activity, but not something that I envisaged as my lifetime’s work. I always said I never saw it as something I would be involved in by the time I was 40.’
Training schedule
As a runner Coe was extremely focused. He adopted a training schedule that was both revered and criticised, and applied an organised approach to the sport that was previously unseen. He explains:
‘In the early part of my career I was quite heavily criticised for it. I turned it from an art into a science - at its best track and field is a mixture of art and science.’
From an early age Coe had enjoyed running and by the age of 16 his father claims that he knew that his son would be a ‘world-beater’. Although an engineer by trade Coe's father, Peter, devoted himself to the development of his sons career, and after studying concepts of coaching and grasping the basics of bio-mechanics, Peter Coe, became his sons coach.
Parental support is not uncommon in the sporting world, but the difference in Coe’s approach lay in his reliance on the experts. When Peter Coe felt that he lacked the right skills for his son’s training he turned to the professionals, the result being that Coe surrounded himself with a team of highly qualified staff and subsequently approached competition with a military precision. Coe explains:
‘His [Peter Coe’s] view was that you couldn't be a specialist in every discipline within the sport. He understood the basics of bio-mechanics and eventually became an extremely capable physiologist, but he didn't spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about those issues - he found people who could spend time worrying about them, while he concentrated on the coaching and bringing the team together. For the first time, in the coaching structure, he brought different disciplines into the team. That's good coaching.’
| ‘I turned it from an art into a science - at its best track and field is a mixture of art and science’ | |
The race is on
The coaching and hard training began to pay off. In 1977 Coe became the European indoors 800m champion; in 1980 he was the champion of the Olympic 1500m and took silver at the 800m; in 1981 he set the world 800m record and in 1984 he became the first man to retain the Olympic 1500m title.
Aside from training Coe was driven by an old fashioned force – competitive spirit. The media fuelled rivalry between Coe and Steve Ovett was immense. At almost every race the crowd’s loyalty was divided between the two runners, but how important was the presence of Ovett to Coe?
‘It was intense, it was dramatic. I tended to try and cocoon myself by pretending that he was just another athlete and it didn't really matter. But actually it did matter and the reality was that he was a big figure. Very
rarely were there moments in my waking hours when I didn't think about what he was doing, where he was and what kind of training he was doing.’
Going for gold
Such rivalry was put to the ultimate test at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Having been beaten to first position in the 800m final by Ovett, Coe knew as he took silver that he would have to run the race of his life in the 1500 m final.
Three days later, having been hounded by the British press, Coe ran a text book race and proved to himself and the world that he could succeed. He describes the feelings that he had on receiving the gold medal:
'When I won, I felt relief. I thought, I’ve done that. It's the external assessment of a career and actually I want to go off and go and do something else.'
It would take another ten years before Coe finally did move on to pastures new. During that time he achieved success at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and in 1986 he became the European 800m champion.
Politics
Despite failing to be selected for the 1988 Olympics, when Coe retired from the sport in 1990 he was a legend. His unique training regime had led him to success on the track and now it was time to apply his ambition to his second career as a politician.
Despite rumors that he could become Britain’s first sports commissioner, Coe rejects the idea that governments should become involved with the day-to-day running of sports and is more than happy with his current role as chief aide to William Hague.
He has been described as the “valet and gatekeeper” to the leader of the British opposition, a description that he feels accurately sums up his role:
'I am William's private secretary and I am basically responsible for the running of the office and bringing together the various disciplines within the office. He [Hague] has a political secretary, a press secretary, head of the policy unit, a planning team and a team that is out on the road. My responsibility is to ensure that his day works as smoothly as it ever can in politics.'
Man of action
Despite his transition from the sporting to the political arena, Coe hasn’t managed to run away from his former life. Part of his maintenance programme for Hague has been to ensure that the opposition leader stays physically fit and to this end Coe has acted as his judo partner and running companion.
Convinced of the connection between a healthy body and mind, Coe has commented:
‘Everybody needs a balance to their day – sport and exercise provide that. Not just politicians, but everybody should take exercise. It’s me time and we all need that.’
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| Athletic awards |
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1980 Gold Medal, 1500m,Moscow Olympics
Silver Medal, 800m, Moscow Olympics
1981 World Record Holder, 800m, 1000m
1984 Gold Medal, 1500m, Los Angeles Olympics
Silver Medal, 800m, Los Angeles Olympics
1986 European Championship, 800m, Stuttgart |
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