Sebastian Coe headed the successful London 2012 Olympic bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics and became chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.
71 Facts About Sebastian Coe
2.
In 2012, Sebastian Coe was appointed Pro-Chancellor of Loughborough University where he had been an undergraduate, and he is a member of the university's governing body.
3.
Sebastian Coe was one of 24 athletes inducted as inaugural members of the IAAF Hall of Fame.
4.
Sebastian Coe was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December 2012.
5.
Sebastian Coe was born on 29 September 1956 at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, Hammersmith, London.
6.
Sebastian Coe joined Hallamshire Harriers at the age of 12, and soon became a middle-distance specialist, having been inspired by David Jackson, a geography teacher at Tapton School who had been a cross-country runner.
7.
Sebastian Coe was coached by his own father and represented Loughborough University and later Enfield and Haringey Athletic Club when not competing for his country.
8.
Sebastian Coe ran in the Emsley Carr mile on 29 August 1977, outsprinting Filbert Bayi of Tanzania in the home straight and winning in 3:57.7.
9.
Sebastian Coe first ran against his great rival Steve Ovett in a schools cross country race in 1972.
10.
The early pace was indeed exceptionally fast: Sebastian Coe ran 200m in 24.3,400m in 49.32, and 600m in 1:16.2; he then slowed and finished third in 1:44.76.
11.
On 1 October 1978, Sebastian Coe displayed to the world for the first time his phenomenal natural endurance by winning the Loughrea 4-Mile road race in Ireland in 17:54, defeating the likes of Eamonn Coghlan and Mike McLeod, and breaking Brendan Foster's course record of 18:05.
12.
The next year, 1979, Sebastian Coe set three world records in 41 days.
13.
Sebastian Coe set the first two in Oslo, Norway, at 800m and the mile, then broke the world 1500m record with his 3:32.03 in Zurich, Switzerland, becoming the first person to hold these three records at the same time.
14.
Sebastian Coe was voted Athlete of the Year by Athletics Weekly and Track and Field News and was ranked number one in the world at 800m and 1500m; no other athlete since has ranked number one at these distances in the same year.
15.
In 1980, Sebastian Coe broke Rick Wohlhuter's world record for 1000m with a time of 2:13.40.
16.
Sebastian Coe took second in the 800m after running what he described as "the worst tactical race of my life", while Ovett took third in the 1500.
17.
Sebastian Coe covered the last 400m in 52.2 and the last 100m in 12.1 seconds, the fastest-ever finish in a championship final at this distance.
18.
Sebastian Coe began 1981 with an indoor world record of 1:46.0 for 800m at Cosford in February.
19.
Sebastian Coe then bettered the standard for the mile twice, first with 3:48.53 in Zurich and then with 3:47.33 in Brussels, on either side of Ovett's world record in Koblenz.
20.
Sebastian Coe's 3:47.33 remained on the all-time top-10 list until 31 May 2014.
21.
Sebastian Coe's leg was the fastest of the day, a solo 1:44.01.
22.
Sebastian Coe decided to withdraw from the 1500 metres in those championships.
23.
Sebastian Coe began 1983 with world indoor records at 800m in Cosford, England and 1000m in Oslo, but he spent much of that year battling health problems, including a prolonged bout with toxoplasmosis.
24.
Sebastian Coe missed the inaugural IAAF World Championships in Athletics.
25.
Sebastian Coe ran the last 800m of the race in 1:49.8, the last lap in 53.2, and the last 100m in 12.7.
26.
Sebastian Coe remains the only man to win successive Olympic 1500m titles.
27.
Sebastian Coe had planned to have a somewhat quiet season in 1985, partly because of the intensity of the previous year's efforts to get himself ready in time for the Olympics, as well as a planned move up to 5000m, which never materialised.
28.
Sebastian Coe suffered a recurrence of a back problem which had plagued him on and off since 1980; this caused him to miss several weeks of midseason training.
29.
Sebastian Coe nevertheless managed to run some fast times towards the end of the season, but he lost his mile world record to Cram, who beat him in Oslo.
30.
In 1986, Sebastian Coe won the 800m gold medal at the European Championships in Stuttgart, beating Tom McKean and Cram with a stunning last 200m of 24.8 and 100m of 12.4.
31.
Sebastian Coe took the silver in the 1500m behind Cram, the mile world record holder proving too strong in the homestretch.
32.
Sebastian Coe then ran his personal best over 1500m with a 3:29.77 performance in Rieti, Italy, becoming the fourth man in history to break 3:30 at the distance.
33.
Sebastian Coe had shown good early season form, but he picked up a chest infection after a spell of altitude training.
34.
Sebastian Coe retired from competitive athletics in early 1990, after having to bow out of the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand with yet another chest infection.
35.
Sebastian Coe ended his career having run sub-1:44 for 800m in eight different years.
36.
Sebastian Coe was elected as Member of Parliament for Falmouth and Camborne in 1992, for the Conservative Party, but lost his seat in the 1997 general election.
37.
Sebastian Coe returned to politics for a short time as Leader of the Opposition William Hague's chief of staff, having accepted the offer of a Life Peerage on 16 May 2000.
38.
When London announced its bid to hold the 2012 Olympics, Sebastian Coe became an ambassador for the effort and a member of the board of the bid company.
39.
Sebastian Coe attended the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver to see how the city coped with the challenges of hosting.
40.
Lord Sebastian Coe noted the Games had "gradually recovered from its tumultuous start" and queried that he "never thought the British would find rivals in their preoccupation with the weather which is almost elevated to an Olympic event" as he credited VANOC for meeting unforeseen challenges such as the unseasonably warm weather of Cypress Mountain.
41.
Sebastian Coe added "Rarely have I seen a host city so passionate and so ready to embrace the Games".
42.
Sebastian Coe was instrumental in asking Queen Elizabeth II to star in Happy and Glorious, a short film featuring James Bond, which formed part of the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.
43.
The director of the ceremony, Danny Boyle first pitched the idea to Sebastian Coe, who loved it so much that he took it to Edward Young, Deputy Private Secretary to the Queen.
44.
Sebastian Coe was appointed the first chairman of FIFA's independent watchdog, the FIFA Ethics Committee.
45.
Sebastian Coe stood down from this post to join the English committee that failed to bring the 2018 World Cup to England, with Russia chosen to host instead.
46.
In 2007 Sebastian Coe was appointed as vice President of the International Association of Athletics Federations and was reappointed in 2011.
47.
In December 2014, Sebastian Coe unveiled his manifesto, 'Growing Athletics in a New Age.
48.
Sebastian Coe has been appointed a member of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Coordination Commission representing the Association of National Olympic Committees.
49.
On 17 July 2020, Sebastian Coe was elected a member of the International Olympic Committee.
50.
Sebastian Coe was accused of blocking the release of a report from the University of Tubingen that mentioned the extent of doping.
51.
In 1990, when resident in Surrey, Sebastian Coe married Nicky McIrvine, a former Badminton three-day-event champion, with whom he has two sons and two daughters.
52.
In 2003, Sebastian Coe began a relationship with Carole Annett; the couple wed in 2011.
53.
Sebastian Coe is the daughter of former England cricket captain M JK Smith.
54.
Sebastian Coe is a worldwide ambassador for Nike and owns a string of health clubs with a membership of more than 20,000.
55.
Sebastian Coe is a member of the East India Club, a private gentlemen's club in St James's Square.
56.
Sebastian Coe has supported London athletic events such as the London 10K of Nike and the British 10K charity race.
57.
On 12 February 2010, Sebastian Coe was the 19th runner on the 106th day of the Vancouver Olympic Torch Relay.
58.
Sebastian Coe's leg was along the Stanley Park Seawall, and he exchanged a "torch kiss" with the previous runner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the next runner, a 19-year-old member of the Squamish community.
59.
In October 2012, Sebastian Coe was appointed chairman of Chime Communications sports marketing subsidiary, CSM Sport and Entertainment.
60.
Sebastian Coe is a fan of cricket and jazz, in particular Billie Holiday and Lester Young.
61.
Sebastian Coe retired from the House of Lords on 31 January 2022.
62.
Sebastian Coe was made an Honorary Doctor of Technology by his alma mater, Loughborough University in 1985.
63.
Sebastian Coe received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Sunderland in 2011.
64.
Sebastian Coe was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1982 New Year Honours and Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1990 New Year Honours.
65.
Sebastian Coe was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2006 New Year Honours for services to sport.
66.
Sebastian Coe was presented with the first Prince of Asturias Award in 1987.
67.
Sebastian Coe received another lifetime achievement award at the Laureus World Sport Awards.
68.
Sebastian Coe has received three separate awards at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony: The main individual award in 1979, a "Special Gold Award" in 2005 and the "Lifetime Achievement Award" in 2012.
69.
Sebastian Coe is a longtime Nike athlete and was recognised by Nike as a great middle-distance runner.
70.
The 'Nike Sebastian Coe building' was designed to emphasise connectivity.
71.
Sebastian Coe was included in The Sunday Times' "100 Makers of the 21st Century" list.