Sebastian Coe v Steve Ovett

Coe seemed like the young gentleman who was groomed to represent his country, while Ovett seemed like the lad who used to win on the grass track on Sports Day and then made good on the “tartan track” when they let him on!

Preferred Brendan Foster over both of them. He seemed like an old fella who, like Forrest Gump, could just keep on running!

That seemed like the golden age of athletics, especially middle distance running.

Now, I have to admit that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is my jam!
 
ChicagoBlue said:
Coe seemed like the young gentleman who was groomed to represent his country, while Ovett seemed like the lad who used to win on the grass track on Sports Day and then made good on the “tartan track” when they let him on!

Preferred Brendan Foster over both of them. He seemed like an old fella who, like Forrest Gump, could just keep on running!

That seemed like the golden age of athletics, especially middle distance running.

Now, I have to admit that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is my jam!
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Brendan Fosters big problem at world level was that he was one-paced, no finish.
 
Coe at the time over ovett, feels like a shite choice now . However Elliott over both for me , didn’t have the same talent but made up with determination. Cram was class . Cook alternated between the 400 and the 800 but married Kathy (nee Smallwood ?)so for that pisses over all of the above at that time !!
 
chaddblue said:
I was only trying to explain this rivalry to my lad yesterday. How Great Britain had the two best in the world. Followed on by Steve Cram
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We’re on the verge of another great era in middle distance running. I remember Cram v Said Aouita. We now have Josh Kerr v Jacob Ingebrigtsen.
 
ChicagoBlue said:
Coe seemed like the young gentleman who was groomed to represent his country, while Ovett seemed like the lad who used to win on the grass track on Sports Day and then made good on the “tartan track” when they let him on!

Preferred Brendan Foster over both of them. He seemed like an old fella who, like Forrest Gump, could just keep on running!

That seemed like the golden age of athletics, especially middle distance running.

Now, I have to admit that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is my jam!
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Great post and I concur.

Not about Sydney, don’t know who the lad is.
 
Just a shame how little they raced against each other in their peak years. Only really the 1980 Olympics as, by 1984, Ovett had declined.
 
Gorton_Tubster said:
Steve ovett for me. I liked his simple approach, it was just him, no science and supplements. No assistance or team behind him as such.
Coe seemed to have a lot of backing, a lot of support especially from the media and people in the higher echelons of society. He got a lot of coverage.
I mean look at where they are now, one of them is a politician and statesmen and the other just lived a humble life.

Then Cram came along and it all got even better.
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If you haven't watched the video i linked in the OP you will see that Ovett shunned the media and didnt want to bother with journalists - where as Coe was happy to do so. Coe says it wasnt a deliberate ploy to be on the media as much as he was its because Ovett didnt want to bother that he then got all the media attention simply because he was accessible.
 
The one thing that struck me watching that video in the OP was how much I watched athletics back then. Or not so much athletics but middle distance running. Most likely due to the 800 and 1500 being my favourite at school (not that I pulled up any trees but I just loved running them - was never a sprinter, couldn't sprint to save my life but long distance I just could run and run)

I guess it's as we only had 3 TV channels!
I recall watching the 3 races in 9 days in Oslo and Zurich when they each broke a world record for the 1500.

They always picked a pace setter who would drop off at the start of the 4th and final lap, usually Jim Walker from New Zealand who was at the end of his career.
It wasn't just the Olympics we watched but these one off events in Oslo etc on a Friday night or whenever they were held. Great times.
 
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stan bowles said:
Just a shame how little they raced against each other in their peak years. Only really the 1980 Olympics as, by 1984, Ovett had declined.
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From memory, Ovett smashed his legs up on some railings, whilst training for LA84, and was basically fucked thereafter. Add to this him catching bronchitis whilst at the games, decline was inevitable
 
I was on around 7 or 8 when this was going on and I despised Coe because he was a big-headed posh bastard! Definitely team Ovett.
 
Initially, it was Coe, until I saw his reaction to defeat in the 800m to Ovett in Moscow. I thought, what a poor loser.

I went right off him. I went even further off him, when he became a Tory twat, and his stock fell even further, when he became my MP. He was fucking useless.

He and his wife loved the area so much that she went to London for the birth of their first child. Thankfully, he only lasted one parliament.
 
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