Sebastian Coe

Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete.

As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medals at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984.

Coe was born on 29 September 1956 at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, Hammersmith, London.

His father was athletics coach Peter Coe and his mother, Tina Angela Lal, was of half Indian descent, born to a Punjabi father, Sardari Lal Malhotra, and an English/Irish mother, Vera (née Swan).

When he was less than a year old, Coe and his family moved to Warwickshire, where he later attended Bridgetown Primary School and Hugh Clopton Secondary School in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The family then moved to Sheffield where he attended Tapton School, a secondary modern school, at Crosspool which became a comprehensive school while he was there and Abbeydale Grange School.

He 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.

Coe was coached by his own father and represented Loughborough University and later Haringey AC, now Enfield and Haringey Athletic Club when not competing for his country.

He first ran against his great rival Steve Ovett in a schools cross country race in 1972.

Coe studied Economics and Social History at Loughborough University and won his first major race in 1977—an 800 metres event at the European indoor championships in San Sebastián, Spain.

At Loughborough University he met an athletics coach, George Gandy, who developed "revolutionary" conditioning exercises to improve Coe's running.

Coe first caught the public's attention on 14 March 1977 when he competed in the 800m at the European Indoor Championships in San Sebastián, front-running the entire race and winning in 1:46.54, just short of the world indoor record.

He 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.

Eleven days later, on 9 September 1977, he ran the 800m at the Coca-Cola Games at Crystal Palace in a time of 1:44.95, beating Andy Carter's 1:45.12 to claim his first UK national outdoor record.

Coe's 1978 season continued to show his progression in the middle distances, though he raced only sparingly, as in early June he had suffered a serious ankle injury whilst out on a training run.

On 18 August 1978, he ran the 800m at the Ivo Van Damme Memorial meeting in Brussels, where he far outclassed the field and stormed home in a time of 1:44.25, another UK national record.

Neither won, nor did either win in their first major encounter, on 31 August 1978, in the 800m at the European Championships in Prague.

Ovett took second, breaking Coe's UK record with a time of 1:44.09, and Coe finished third; the race was won by the East German Olaf Beyer.

According to Pat Butcher, Coe's father and coach Peter Coe had encouraged him to run as fast as he could from the start.

The early pace was indeed exceptionally fast: 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.

A few weeks later, Coe reclaimed the UK record at Crystal Palace, setting an all-comers' mark of 1:43.97 which ranked him second in the world that year.

On 1 October 1978, 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 (who would win the 5000m at the 1983 World Championships) and Mike McLeod (who would be the 1984 Olympic 10,000m silver medalist), and breaking Brendan Foster's course record of 18:05.

All this off a season which had been focussed on 800m, with only one race at 1500m or the mile.

This was a warning to the world's top milers of what was to happen the following summer.

He set nine outdoor and three indoor world records in middle-distance track events – including, in 1979, setting three world records in the space of 41 days – and the world record he set in the 800 metres in 1981 remained unbroken until 1997.

The next year, 1979, Coe set three world records in 41 days.

Coe's rivalries with fellow Britons Steve Ovett and Steve Cram dominated middle-distance racing for much of the 1980s.

Following Coe's retirement from athletics, he was a Conservative member of parliament from 1992 to 1997 for Falmouth and Camborne in Cornwall, and became a Life Peer on 16 May 2000.

His mother, Tina Angela Lal, died in London, in 2005, aged 75.

In 2007, he was elected a vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and re-elected for another four-year term in 2011.

His father, Peter Coe, died on 9 August 2008, aged 88, while Coe was visiting Beijing.

He headed the successful London 2012 Olympic bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics and became chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

In 2012, Coe was appointed Pro-Chancellor of Loughborough University where he had been an undergraduate.

In November 2012, he was appointed chairman of the British Olympic Association.

Coe was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December 2012.

At the 2024 Millrose Games, Coe was awarded The Armory's Presidents Award.

In August 2015, he was elected president of the IAAF.

Subsequently, in 2017, he was appointed as Chancellor.

He is also a member of Loughborough University's governing body.

He was one of 24 athletes inducted as inaugural members of the IAAF Hall of Fame.