Coe chronicles: 1980 to 1983 - Olympic gold and world records
The first three parts of this series are available on the AW website here. The final three parts are available to subscribers exclusively in the AW Clubhouse.
Seb Coe ended 1979 as the BBC Sports Personality of the Year and was the sport's biggest and brightest star going into Olympic year.
The pressure was on and the subsequent 1980 season went well with one major exception. The 1981 season arguably went even better than 1979 but 1982 and 1983 saw major problems that put his 1984 Olympic preparation in doubt.
» The first part of our 'Coe chronicles' looks at his greatest top 10 races. Click here to read.
» Part two looks at his early races as a teenager from 1971 to 1975. Click here to read.
» Part three covers Coe's races from 1976 to his first world records in 1979. Click here to read.
» Part four, here, looks at his competitions from 1980 to 1983.
» Part five covers the 1984 to 1986 seasons including his second Olympic gold. Click here to read.
» Part six looks at the twilight of his racing career from 1987-1990. Click here to read.
Loughborough Match 3000m, Crystal Palace, April 23
1st 7:57.4 (PB)
Started the season with a modest PB.
Yorkshire Championships 5000m, Cudworth, May 11
1st 14:06.2 (PB)
The previous year he was the county 400m and 800m champion and here he made a winning debut at a distance he was then saying he would take seriously and do as a future championship distance.
UK Inter-Counties Championships 800m, Birmingham, May 26
1st 1:45.5
He put together laps of 52.9 and faster 52.6 to defeat Rob Harrison by 25 metres.
AAA v Loughborough 800m, June 5
1st 1:45.0
In a solo run, his laps were 51.3 and 53.7 and later he also produced a 46.4 relay leg.
Northern Championships 800m, Hull, June 7
1st 1:44.7
He set a world lead and at this stage of the season he owned four of the world’s five fastest times of the year as he followed Steve Caldwell through a 52.0 first lap and he won by three seconds from the Bolton man.
UK Championships 400m, Crystal Palace, June 15
8th 47.10 (47.78 heat)
David Jenkins won in 45.29 to confirm his Olympic team spot but Coe, who blasted through 200m in 22 seconds, tied up and ended up last in a quality race that saw three Britons inside 46 seconds for the first time in the same race.
Bislett Games 1000m, Oslo, July 1
1st 2:13.40 (world record)
Not at his very best with a throat infection, he was not helped by over zealous pacemaking and running a 51.0 first lap.
He passed 600m in 77.8 and 800m in 1:45.2 with a 30 metre lead. His last 200m was a painful 28.2 but it was enough to take half a second off Rick Wohlhuter’s world record.
Willi Wulbeck closed in the last 200m to finish second in 2:14.53. This gave Coe four world records though he would lose the Mile record to Ovett (3:48.8) later in the evening at the same meeting.
Olympic 800m final, Moscow, July 26
2nd 1:45.85 (1:46.61 semi, 1:48.44 heat)
He suffered his first 800m defeat for two years as he ran a terrible tactical race in what was one of the most hyped and anticipated races in history.
He was last at 400m in 55.3 and failed to react when David Warren then Nikolay Kirov and Ovett accelerated down the back straight and he was fifth 10 metres back at 600m.
He closed a little on the final bend to move up to fourth and then moved past Kirov into second 20 metres out, but he made little impression on Ovett (1:45.4) despite a sub-25 last 200m and he finished a deeply disappointed second three metres back on his rival.
Olympic 1500m final, Moscow, August 1
1st 3:38.40 (3:39.34 semi, 3:40.05 heat)
Ovett’s undefeated 1500m and mile run ended at 45 races as Coe made up for the 800m with a perfectly executed run after having been written off by many after his 800m.
The first 800m was a terribly slow 2:04.9 and then East German Jurgen Straub blasted a 54.2 third lap and Coe was quickest to react and on his shoulder.
He was still trailing by a few metres 200m out but he closed up as he began to hit the straight and a double kick took him away from the German, having run the last 400m in a brilliant 52.2.
Ovett, unable to raise himself after his 800m win, was a well beaten third (3:39.0) and was not even able to get past a delighted and inspired Straub (3:38.8) in the last few metres.
IAC/Coca-Cola 800m, Crystal Palace, August 8
1st 1:45.9
A rather modest quality race in front of a 18,000 capacity crowd, was easily won from fellow Olympic finalist Warren (1:46.9).
Zurich Weltklasse 1500m, August 13
1st 3:32.19
If the previous race was solely to ensure he won easily, this was a top quality line-up (arguably stronger than Moscow) against Scott and Walker who missed the Olympics due to the boycott and Bayi who won a medal in the steeplechase.
The first 800m was on world record pace at 1:52.6 but the third lap was a poor 59.0 and Coe found himself surprisingly ahead with 500 metres to go with all his rivals lined up behind him.
He held himself back until the last 100 metres and then produced a superb kick to take over a second off his rivals led by Scott (3:33.33) and Walker (3:33.49) and despite his slow middle, he only missed the world record shared by himself and Ovett by 0.1 of a second and he clearly was in shape to break it easily.
Viareggio 800m, Italy, August 14
2nd 800m 1:45.07
A day after his 1500m, he was not at his best and he was narrowly beaten by American Don Paige (1:45.05) who had also won the 800m in Zurich and ended the season as world No.1 in the rankings.
Coe suffered a slipped disc shortly after and missed the rest of the end of season races.
1981
AAA Indoor Championships 3000m, Cosford, January 24
1st 7:55.2
In his first indoor race for two years, he produced a 27.3 last 200m, 56.2 final 400m and 2:33.2 final kilometre to hold off Yorkshire rival Ken Newton (7:55.8) (pictured below).
Great Britain v East Germany 800m, Cosford, February 11
1st 1:46.0 (world record)
With no intention of a world record but pressurised for 600m by fellow double Olympic finalist Andreas Busse (1:47.1) he put together laps of 25.7, 26.6, 27.2 and 26.5 to take half a second off Carlo Grippo’s four-year-old world record.
UAU Championships 400m, Crystal Palace, May 3
1st 46.9
In his first outdoor track race of the year, he showed good speed with victory over one lap.
Yorkshire Championships 800m, Cleckheaton, May 17
1st 1:46.5
His annual Yorkshire title gathering saw him go back to two laps.
Philips Night of Athletics 800m, Crystal Palace, June 3
1st 1:44.06
He led all the way to set a world lead and run his third best ever time.
His splits were 24.7, 27.1, 26.6 and then a vicious 25.7 to end the challenge of Garry Cook (1:46.04). He also ran a 45.7 relay leg.
Florence 800m, June 10
1st 1:41.73
Future world champion Billy Konchellah led at a perfect pace through 200m in 24.4 and 400m in 49.7 with Coe following in 24.6 and 49.9 and then going ahead 50 metres after the bell. There was no slowing down in the third 200m stretch as he ran a superb 25.1. He was not able to maintain that near 1:40 tempo up but he still produced a 26.7 last 200m which took half a second off his previous record.
Astonishingly, this meant he was now 1.72 seconds quicker than anyone else and the average of his top five runs was 1:43.27 when no one else had run faster than 1:43.44.
European Cup Semi Final 800m, Helsinki, July 5
1st 1:47.57
A year after struggling to get past him in the Olympic final, Coe’s 24.5 last 200m easily destroyed Kirov (1:49.11) by well over 10 metres as Britain won their first ever overall semi final and surprisingly defeated Russia.
Oslo Games 1000m, July 11
1st 2:12.18 (world record)
Running slightly more evenly than his record of the previous year, he put together splits of 25.6, 25.7, 27.1 and 26.2 - moving him through 800m in a staggering 1:44.6 and then he held on well enough with a 27.6 last 200m to take over a second off his world record.
It would last as a world record for 18 years until 2000 Olympic 1500m champion Noah Ngeny ran 2:11.96 and since Coe's run only the Kenyan has gone faster in the 39 years since Coe's run.
He won by nearly 50 metres and close on seven seconds from future 1500m global medallists Jim Spivey (2:19.03) and Jose Abascal (2:19.57).
Leicester 1000m, July 19
1st 2:17.6
This was his first 1000m race that he did not set a world record in! He won comfortably from Steve Cram (2:18.5) and American 1500m champion Sydney Maree (2:19.5).
AAA Championships 800m, Crystal Palace, August 8
1st 1:45.41 (1:45.84 heat)
He won his first ever senior outdoor AAA title with splits of 25.1, 27.6, 27.1 and 25.6 to easily beat Loughborough-based Sudanese Omer Khalifa (1:46.75).
European Cup Final 800m, Zagreb, August 16
1st 1:47.03
He took the lead at 200m and passed 400m in 54.81 and then wound the pace up finishing with a stunning 24.6 last 200m to easily defeat a top class field including future world champion Wulbeck (1:47.72) and reigning European champion Olaf Beyer (1:47.73) and Kirov (1:48.1).
Weltklasse Zurich Mile, August 19
1st 3:48.53 (world record)
Tom Byers led through the first quarter in 56.13 and 1:53.59 but was struggling and dropped out at 1000m and Coe went ahead and was down on Ovett’s 3:48.8 record schedule as he completed a 58.09 third lap as he hit three-quarters in 2:51.68.
He had hoped to even challenge the 1500m record enroute but his 3:33.27 time was half a second slower than Ovett in his mile. However, he finished strongly with 15.26 for the last 109 metres and took a few tenths off Ovett’s record. Mike Boit (3:49.74) set an African record in second.
IAAF Golden Mile, Brussels, August 28
1st 3:47.33 (world record)
Coe’s record only lasted a week before Ovett (3:48.40) responded in Koblenz but Ovett’s mark would last just two days. Byers paced again but this time was healthier and he ran perfect splits of 54.92 and 1:52.67 and Coe’s only worry was that he caught Byers’ heel down the backstraight on the penultimate lap and he had a slight stumble.
Coe went ahead with 500 metres to go but held back initially as he went through three-quarters of a mile in 2:51.9 which was down on Ovett’s time as he still had Boit close behind him. He was through 1500m in 3:32.93 and then impressively changed pace in the finishing straight to take a whole second off Ovett’s mark.
His last 109 metres was a lightning fast 14.30 and his finishing burst took two seconds off of Boit who set an African record (3:49.45).
World Cup 800m, Rome, September 4
1st 1:46.16
After a slow 54.4 opening lap, Coe went ahead at 500m and led through 600m in 81.4 before unleashing a 24.8 last 200 with most of the damage done in a 12.0 last 100m as he won easily from American James Robinson (1:47.31).
World junior record-holder Joaquim Cruz was only sixth (1:47.77) but would gain his revenge three years later!
Yorkshire Championships 1500m, Cudworth, May 16
1st 3:39.1
The traditional county championships supporting this time saw a move to 1500m but no change in the winning.
Bordeaux 2000m, June 5
1st 4:58.85
The endurance looked promising as he reeled off a 2000m PB as a scheduled 3000m was on the cards against Ovett in a lucrative future series of races that ultimately never took place due to injuries.
The Briton won the race from Alex Gonzalez (4:59.59) and Pierre Deleze (4:59.75) with European 5000m winner-to be Thomas Wessinghage also inside five minutes in fourth.
Zurich 800m, August 17
1st 1:44.48
After a two month break from competition due to injury, he returned with a 1:46.5 time trial at Nottingham to confirm to the European selectors he was healthy and this run two weeks later took away all doubts and made him a huge favourite for Athens.
His time just missed Steve Cram’s world lead (for the whole year) by three hundredths of a second. A distant second was East German Detlef Wagenknecht (1:45.02).
Talbot Games 800m, Crystal Palace, August 20
1st 1:45.85
Three days later in a less celebrated line up, he put together splits of 25.8, 27.8, 26.0 and 26.3 to comfortably defeat Garry Cook (1:46.35).
Cologne 800m, August 22
1st 1:45.10
In his third race in five days he followed Hans-Peter Ferner through a 52.3 first lap, and then kicked away to win easily from Robinson (1:45.74).
BAAB Heinz Games 4x800m, Crystal Palace, August 30
1:44.01 leg (1st WR 7:03.89)
He probably did not need another race so close to the Europeans but the BAAB insisted everyone Athens-bound needed to turn out.
The early legs from an unfit Peter Elliott (1:49.14), Garry Cook (1:46.20) and Steve Cram (1:44.54) (pictured below) set up a potential record despite windy conditions. Coe blasted a 49.1 first lap in a 1:44.01 contribution that meant the British team took four seconds off the Soviet’s world record.
European Championships 800m, Athens, September 8
2nd 1:46.68 (1:48.66 heat and 1:47.98 semi)
It seemed to be a formality that Coe would win after easily winning his heats in style the previous two days. He looked at his best when he cruised through the first lap ahead in 53.24 and into the straight he kicked away from the field and it looked all over.
However, he tied up halfway down the final straight and was passed 30 metres out by the ninth-ranked Ferner (1:46.33) who had previously failed to even win a German title and had been well behind Coe in Zurich (1:45.27) and Cologne (1:45.97).
Coe was later diagnosed with glandular fever and he withdrew from the upcoming 1500m in Athens and the upcoming Commonwealth Games. Had he been able to replicate his form in his four previous 800m runs, he would have won easily.
GB v France 1500m, Cosford, February 12
1st 3:42.60
In his first race since Athens and his first indoor 1500m for seven years, he stretched out after the bell and covered the last lap in a scintillating 25.5 to take three seconds off Didier Begouin (3:45.74).
England v USA 800m, Cosford, March 12
1st 1:44.91 (world indoor record)
Colin Szwed paced it perfectly through 400m (50.99) and Coe took up at the pace after 530m. Though claiming he was not race sharp, he took over a second off his two-year-old world record.
His splits were 25.2, 26.0, 27.2 and 26.6. No one else had ever run faster than 1:46.4 indoors but Peter Elliott was a fine second in 1:46.71.
Norway v England 1000m, Oslo, March 19
1st 2:18.58 (world indoor record)
In his fifth race in Oslo, he set his fifth world record and 12th overall.
On a very tight track, Szwed again did a good job leading up to 700m and he kicked in a strong last lap to take a second off a mediocre world record that was very infrequently contested and previously held by Paul-Heinz Wellmann (2:19.1). His splits after a very heavy training week were 27.5, 28.1, 28.1, 28.4 and a fine 26.5.
Emsley Carr Mile inc GB v USSR, Birmingham, June 5
1st 4:03.37
It was the slowest Emsley Carr winning time for 18 years as a 26 second last 200m saw off John Gladwin (4:04.86) and European 1500m runner-up Kirov (4:05.16), who had been so close to him in the Moscow 800m.
Loughborough v AAA 800m, June 12
1st 1:44.99
On the new track, Coe ran a questionable tactical race (shades of Moscow) and was only seventh at 350m and he was unable to get ahead 200m from the finish when Steve Caldwell held him off but he kicked ahead 150m out and won from Graham Williamson’s Scottish record 1:45.6. Coe’s laps were 52.7 and 52.3.
Paris 1500m, June 24
2nd 3:35.17
He suffered his first defeat at the distance for seven years not helped by being pushed off the track in the first 100 metres and losing 10 metres He was ahead at the bell in 2:39.9 and looked to be in control as he hit the straight ahead and kicked but, just as in Athens, he was unable to sustain his kick and he was run down by Jose-Luis Gonzalez (3:34.84).
Bislett Games 800m, Oslo, June 28
1st 1:43.80
If there were any concerns that he might be suffering like Athens they were dispelled by this run as he ran his fastest time since his world record and it was his third best ever behind his two world records.
James King led through 400m in 51.27 and Coe was ahead at 600m in 77.8 but this time he was able to produce a superb kick and complete a 26.0 final 200m as he set a world lead.
Rob Druppers was a distant second (1:44.75), a position he would match in the World Championships.
Talbot Games 1500m, Crystal Palace, July 15
2nd 3:36.03
The alarm bells rung again as he hit the front 500m out and looked to be in control. He held off Craig Masback 200m out and led into the straight but was unable to find his normal kick and he was easily run down by European indoor 3000m champion Dragan Zdravkovic who won comfortably in 3:35.28 in front of a shocked 17,000 capacity British crowd.
AAA Championships Invitation Mile, Crystal Palace, July 23
2nd 3:52.93
An invitation mile was controversially held within the Championships and he was well beaten by World Championships 1500m favourite Steve Scott (3:51.56) as he suffered his first mile loss since 1976 and this made his mind up not to contest the 1500m at Helsinki.
Gateshead Games 800m, July 31
4th 1:45.31
AAA champion William Wuyke set a fast pace of 24.98 and 51.45 and Coe moved up on the second lap and was on Wuyke’s shoulder as he hit the straight and though not finding any notable kick, looked like he might win 40 metres out before slowing.
Cram, who was at the back at the bell and only fourth into the straight, finished superbly to narrowly win in 1:45.03 from Wuyke (1:45.07). Elliott (1:45.25) also got the scalp of Coe, who lost at 800m to a Briton other than Ovett for the first time in a decade.
While his Oslo 800m proved he could still win global title, he withdrew from the Helsinki 800m and said his two-lap career was over as he had planned to run the 5000m in Los Angeles. It was later found he had glandular toxoplasmosis and he was not able to get back into full training until March the following year.
Photographs by Mark Shearman
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