Sebastian Coe
Born in Chiswick, LondonBorn on 29th of September 1956
Died in 000
Quotes from Sebastian Coe
'I became a great runner becaus'... More
Seb Coe had a glittering and high profile career as a British top-level athlete. After retiring from competition he was a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1992-97. He became a life peer in 2000.
Coe was born in West London but grew up in Sheffield. He went to Tapton and Abbeydale Grange schools. He joined athletics team Hallamshire Harriers at the age of 12, and quickly settled into the middle-distance disciplines. Seb Coe studied economics and social history at Loughborough University.
He was coached by Peter Coe, his father. He won the 800-metre event at the European indoor championships in San Sebastián, Spain in 1977, his first major race victory.
He won the 1500 m gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984. He also set eight outdoor and three indoor world records. Seb Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram dominated British middle-distance racing for much of the 1980s and a staunch rivalry existed between the three.
The most famous races between Ovett and Coe occurred at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games where each won the other's speciality, Ovett the 800 metres, and Coe the 1500 metres. Coe handed Ovett the latter's first defeat at either one mile or 1500 metres in three years and 45 races.
He has remained closely involved in Olympic sport and was the head of the London bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics and, after the International Olympic Committee announced London as the winning bid, became the chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. Coe was elected a vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations on 22nd August 2007.
Coe married Nicky McIrvine, a former Badminton three-day-event champion in 1990. The couple had four children, two boys and two girls. The marriage ended in divorce in 2002 after twelve years.
Links:
http://www.made-in-sheffield.com/People/sebastianCoe.htm Made in Sheffield profile
http://www.london2012.org/en 2012 Olympics
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