Coe/Ovett

in the mid-1970s the emergence of two British athletes divided a nation little distance runners from opposite ends of the social spectrum they took the athletics world by storm amassing eight gold medals breaking 15 World Records but defeating each other provided the ultimate satisfaction Britain in the 1970s was in political crisis a failing economy led to mass unemployment intense industrial action was the norm and rubbish lay uncollected during the winter of discontent throughout society an anti-establishment feeling but taken home yet few would have imagined the traditional world of track and field would come to represent Britain's growing class divide that person we were a close person I think that added to the entry one guy left for university the other guy you know that our college and Brighton just totally different backgrounds totally different approaches to life like one who's the tough tough working-class guy I was they decided that was Steven loved it and whatever the tough seven cool we keep the conscious that anything we said had you know the potential for a you know for an incendiary flare the whole thing was scripted very well and I think the press had a hell of a day we do as a nation divided but divided around two iconic athletes who represented Great Britain almost like a marketing man's dream but it wasn't you know it was real in the 1950s Brighton was a working-class seaside town south of London it was here in 1955 that Steve Evette was born and raised and whilst his family were running their own market stall Steve developed the love and talent for athletics he had immense talent and it was he could win there the 400 metres the 200 metres of the Sussex school I gave him the long jump you know he was a truly talented athlete initially a 400-meter runner by the time he was 18 Albert had found the 800 liters and 1500 liters while his natural distances he had the perfect physique for a middle distance runner and his class was immediately obvious chill guys who matured quite early he was a strapping kid as an early teenager he was already close to six feet tall very big barrel chested a vet had talent to spare in 1974 age 19 he won a silver medal for Great Britain at the European Championships in Rome in the 800 meters there he was European Championship silver medalist and you could see the road ahead for Steve B&K one go on watching that day was an interested spectator when I was chucking around across country courses at English schools level and I'm only a year younger than Steve Steve was new appearing in silver medals Sebastian Coe was born in West London in 1956 I'm moving to Sheffield he too developed a talent for middle distance running of smaller and slighter than a vet Coe managed to avoid the physicality synonymous with the sport simply by running faster said contradicted all of the ideas on 800 he was little he was small he could be pushed around but he had amazing strength amazing speed amazing acceleration and great determination yeah throw tons and tons of weights here during his late teens early twenties in order to get the the strength especially if it is upper body he went from the front very often he could control it from the front from the back when he was in his best form he was he was I think an beta but it was it was a sight to behold unusually Carl was trained by his father Peter an engineer who initially nothing about lemmings but the to make the relationship work on the surface it looked like there's a very domineering father and a son that just did what he was told and I couldn't have been further from the truth both of them knew that when it crunch came it was said we made the critical decisions because only said we could run ran around the track well the 19 year old Coe was developing under his father's tutelage Alvarez reached his first Olympics in Montreal he failed to qualify for the 1500 meters fine but finished fifth in the 800 meters a great achievement for an athlete a month later code took on John Walker the newly crowned Olympic 1500 meters champion in Gateshead he actually led in the against the Olympic champion with 200 meters to go to do now the street dog walker did win but walking himself admitted he said I wrote him up my coach that night he said there was this little guy I've got no idea he was it was leading me at one point by 50 meters Joe would not remain unknown for long it was physically different to ovis but the two were opposites in every way and the British media sensed a classic rivalry I think it was that polarization the perceptions of them that they were totally different in every case you know in class in upbringing in in demeanor in politics you're either not that person who you were a co person and I think that added to the entry it was a nation divided but divided around two iconic athletes who represented Great Britain it's come right the media friendly Co was the good guy Albert's refusal to engage with the press coupled with his habit of celebrating before a race was even one marked him out as the bad guy probably at the period most of the press were a little bit more inclined towards said because he would cooperate more what we and the press would do o7t do what Steve said about you really care was only terribly diplomatic but he would get he would get annoyed from time to time he's an athlete I respect all athletes Steve is a very talented athlete very great deal not to say I didn't mind the bad cop so much and said got like the good cop image the bad guy continued this dominance on the track in 1977 he faced a competitive field in the World Cup 1500 meters watch the race and it had John Walker Olympic champion world record holder from the year before Thomas Wesson harder European champion European record holder I mean just the best athletes around and what Steve did in five or six paces just leaving the back straight and creating not just daylight but an absolute chasm John said he was actually so blown away by the speed that Steve left me on that bed that he did throw in the towel walked off the track with the exception of a schoolboy meet at six years earlier the 1978 European Championships in Prague would be the first time Cohen our vets met on the track in the final of the 800 meters finally the press and the public were granted their wish Kobus is a veteran in the same race it was a toss-up in Prague the European Championship as to which one but when the focus was on the two of them and an assumption was their win gold and silver and it was only which one would win gold or silver Prague was my first major championship I think there was an element of probably believing a little bit too much as the British press portrayed that this was only a race between the two of us and the medals were simply to be dished out his tactics of the time were going as fast as he could on first lap and I you know he said to me what do you think and I said I think good going fast on the first lap is a good formula ever in a dungeon iteration it was a strategy that was going quite well until I got to I was just entering the finishing straight and I just realized there was nowhere else to go I've been to all the gears and this had an inevitability about it you got a bit carried away here a bit too quick on the first left all that follow them and track them and it looked like you know seven run out of steam oh why is he slowing down is he going to kick again you know he's gonna kick to get up and away I'm gonna wait I've got away I've got away and I waited and waited and waited I remember the white vest coming I didn't even need to look that I knew this was Steve coming by and in fairness he did actually have the good grace to smile as he came by took a hiatus gathering speed all the time I was also trying to conceal a smile because this guy claimed there was a guy named run exactly two seconds faster than he'd ever run in his life before or would ever run afterwards and breeze past a vet who had earlier in the race Brees Pasco and and beat the pair of them I think it was probably a very good lesson to both of us but whether we had realized it or not at the time the world was a fairly competitive place my breath was still able to salvage something from the championships winning his first ever gold medal in the 1500 meters he returned home with a silver at the gold comb with his soul prongs now had an annotated sentence to step from his rivals shadow I remember Sampson you know Christmas Day I'll be up training twice because I know that darling Brighton where Steven all that lives he'll bit up training twice so so that the rival who was brilliant because it's bird them on in their own training blow meeting that in athletics for better or for worse and it's got its advantages and gross disadvantages there is another arbiter of excellence the judge of excellence apart from winning races and that's selling world record by 1979 Stephen Beck was the main man both on the track and in the public's eye until an incredible 41 days force of a Stephen Cohen I remember looming up Sheffield I'm speaking to the old man and say well look I'm running I'm running better than I thought and I'm certainly running times and I think you would be quite impressed with he likes Alberta one Terrenas World Records they're kinda meters by a whole second there was the second Oslo meeting that year and so can be invited back to that now we haven't run a mile for two years I broke away from I feel finding it ridiculous and easier than that finally so the bridge number two is suddenly the world record holder above the 800 meters and the mile everybody wants a piece that the action there they invited code to come and have a crack at the 1500 meters world where of course I wanted to be the first athlete to hold the three a world record simultaneously media pressure for that one was colossal I just looked inside and i- i got a tenth of a second he's three World Records in 41 days he's actually on top of the world and suddenly over who's been sitting at home watching all of this he's not only number two in Brittany number two in the world that was to me I think the turning point where I thought what I hate you I've not just got the rest of the world to take on I've got someone in my back guard well Steve I wasn't taking part last night and he said that it was a hollow victory because he wasn't there how do you feel about that I feel the same way as anybody else in that field last night that whoever won I don't think would have considered will be on the track at the 1980 Moscow Berlin extreme era both men stepped up their preparation so far they had studiously avoided competing against each other but in an act of gamesmanship other vets entered Chows warm-up races come switched events the make matters worse oh it didn't even turn up he made them switch events and then he didn't turn out so they were furious the rivalry was near boiling point us both arrived in Moscow ready to do battle avoiding each other was no longer an option there was no hiding place in the pursuit of Olympic gold and with many countries boycotting the games the world was looking towards coal and ovett to ignite the Olympics and two loads of people from around the world they said that wasn't the Moscow Olympics it was the claret Olympics I think that both of us probably started pressure incredibly Coe was gonna win the

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Length: 15min 0sec (900 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 26 2014