1980 Olympics in Moscow the 800m final - winner Steve Ovett

the winner Ovett using his elbows in a blatant way : he was lucky not to be DQ, I think.

[@androod6211]

Ovett was the best. He didn't always win, he didn't always have the world record, but he was always the most exciting racer. What an era this was - for Brits and non-Brits.

[@markpatterson2764]

Why do countless rowers and cyclists who are barely recognized in the UK have knighthoods while the great Steve Ovett has just an OBE,its as bad an omission as Bobby Moore except since Ovett is still with us it should have been corrected years ago

[@jeffallinson8089]

Have to agree; good point.

[@paulnorton3607]

Back in the day Coe was regarded as the golden boy that could do not wrong and deserved all the accolades while Ovett was a common oik and a peasant in comparison. Well good on you Steve, I was over the moon when you put the rest in their place. After he won bronze in the 1500m I liked the way he explained it by saying when he got his 800m gold he just wanted to go home. A legend

[@michaelstephenson4517]

Rowers and cyclist are public school produces with connection to the establishment.

[@markpatterson2764]

@@michaelstephenson4517 Good point

[@andynaz5631]

Look at Ovett's 5000m defeat against Treacy and you have your answer. That about sums up Ovett.

[@user-xg6yc8ho3w]

Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett, and Steve Cram. That was an incredible time for British middle distance running. Britain was the home of the Olympic champion, World champion and World Record holder in the 1,500 m - titles held by Coe, Cram and Ovett respectively at the same time. Trading records and medals back and forth. A small country, but had the best middle distance runners. Their times are still elite.

[@johnmc3862]

Britain isn’t a small county. Ireland is beside it with a population of 7 million, that’s a small country.

[@santhanaraj5863]

Yes, ... but unfortunately, today, top world-class native British athletes are no longer. Instead, they have been replaced by athletes from third-world, like Somalia and Nigeria!! Utterly disgraceful !!

[@saminieminen4871]

Now there is two scots, Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman. World champions.

[@neilwallaceandlolawallace1969]

Ovett was always my man Seb always seemed a little privileged. Watching them together was pure gold, thank you both for the amazing memories

[@Lebowski53]

Ovett was just as odd. They were both strange young men with similarly overbearing parents. If Coe was privileged, Ovett was arrogant.

[@neilwallaceandlolawallace1969]

@@Lebowski53 They were both the best we had in a time we haven't seen again.. I felt ovett was a street fighter. Seb a professional boxer

[@martinhill9261]

What an amazing time it was.The golden era.Steve was such a classy runner and won this fairly easily.

[@us-Bahn]

Where does privilege fit in when the race starts?

[@OldhamSteve52]

Plus Peter Elliott.

[@ryanwilliams2764]

This race is often framed as Coe losing it due to his tactics. But, Ovett’s 2nd lap of 50.6 was brutal.

[@simonedwards5564]

So brutal that 42 years LATER nobody,,,NOBODY has run this fast for the last lap in international history of 800m competition!!!!!!!!!! No WONDER coe and company were physically MALICIOUSLY scattered to the winds!!!!!!!!!! 50,6 !!!!!!!!

[@markpatterson2764]

Amazing! that may be the most underated undereported sports statistic I've ever heard,even at the time!

[@neillgowans4350]

Both their tactics were questionable in first 500m but Ovett’s last lap pace was just incredible. Coe would have had to go sub 50s to pull out a win. Crazy.

[@lister_of_smeg6545]

Coe ran a 50.7 second lap despite being in lane 2 through the entire first bend and most of the second. Would have been around 50 flat without those extra 12 or so metres. So yeah, Coe lost it through poor tactics.

[@santhanaraj5863]

The press was rooting for Coe, .. but Steve Ovett showed his true genius and sealed his legacy in this brilliant race !!

[@Chucklea9]

Brilliant run by Mr Ovett. At 2.38 he puts his foot on the gas and no man would have caught him. The slow first lap played into his hands. Coe can have no complaints. From 320 meters to go, there was the same distance between him and Ovett as there was on the finishing line. Beaten by a better man on the day, but his day would come

[@geevanathan5507]

I had always loved Ovett's performance. Super race!

[@Codzilla71]

"Those blue eyes like chips of ice.." - god bless Dave Coleman!

[@fender1000100]

One of the greatest 800m finals of alltime. Ovett was amazing.

[@andre1987eph]

I agree.

[@martinhill9261]

Top,top class.

[@HartfordHD125]

I am so grateful that I am old enough to have watched this on live TV. First Olympics I ever remember. And yes, Steve Ovett was simply fabulous.

[@johnhughes8466]

The great David Coleman! The greatest commentator of alltime and what world class 800 mtr. Running by the legendary Steve Ovette!

[@scrumpymanjack]

The greatest commentator of all time? Are you on crack?

[@Telssa1]

@@scrumpymanjack Were you alive at the time? I was, and I agree with John Hughes.

[@scrumpymanjack]

@@Telssa1 Yes, I was alive at the time. Very much so: his commentary dominated the years when I most watched athletics. But they didn't name the column in Private Eye Coleman Balls for nothing. Here's just a couple of examples of his sometimes-idiotic commentary: "He is accelerating all the time. The last lap was run in 64 seconds and the one before in 62." "And the line-up for the final of the women's 400 metres hurdles includes three Russians, two East Germans, a Pole, a Swede and a Frenchman." And you call that great commentary? By what benchmark? Thankfully, we now have Steve Cram, who actually knows what he's talking about.

[@Telssa1]

@@scrumpymanjack He went on for many years too long, and fully earned the Private Eye nickname, to the point that he annoyed me. However, I remember him coming on the scene, and his great years when we suddenly felt as though WE were insiders, knowing the training regimes, fitness and emotions of the athletes. WE had access to all the facts and figures. For many of us, he was on an LP record and all the rest were on CD.

[@scrumpymanjack]

@@Telssa1 Not sure your LP/CD analogy stands up to scrutiny but you keep Coleman; I'll stick with Steve Cram and Brendan Foster, two commentators who not only commentate with all the emotion and more that Coleman ever brought to the party but were also world-class athletes (thus bringing a level of expertise, knowledge and insight that Coleman could only ever dream of). I'm happy that you loved DC (anyone can and should have personal favourites!). I'll even openly acknowledge that his commentary is evocative of a golden period for British athletics, one that we all loved and enjoyed. I'm only taking issue with the (frankly silly) claim that he was "the greatest commentator of all time". I can think of probably a dozen other commentators who were better, and demonstrably so.

[@simonedwards8888]

Ovetts 50:6 second lap is still the fastest in a major games 38 years later !!!!!!!!! That is truly phenomenal !!!!!!!

[@adamd4390]

Simon Edwards played into his hands running a slow first lap

[@rycooder9486]

Same big guy seemed to hinder Ovett and Coe

[@keinKlarname]

Phenomenal? It's slower than the AVERAGE of the WR.

[@jeremyhomewood9573]

@@keinKlarname this was 1980 when the world record was 1:42,33 and ovetts on was 1:44,1 from 1978

[@jeremyhomewood9573]

@@keinKlarname sorry ovetts pb was 1:44 ,1!!!!!/ 50,6 represents 1:41,2 which means OVETT ⭐ was capable of running 1:428/1:43,0 !!!!!! Ovett NEVER got near his ultimate 800 metres time and like I said 38 years later still holds the record for the last lap in a major games !!!!! With seb Coe spending most of the clash in lane two and three!!!!!

[@temp850]

How did they get away with so much shoving and pushing! Amazing. Ovett was tough. He basically sliced that field in two like a knife when he was blocked. It wasn't just his great last lap but his ability to break free of the tactical hold on him.

[@petermernagh9991]

Should have been disqualified

[@UneducatedGeologist]

​@@petermernagh9991which runner?

[@petermernagh9991]

Ovett

[@stevemercedes3692]

@@petermernagh9991. No way old son, you don’t get disqualified for a little barging in an Olympic final ..

[@robertboyle2573]

Ovett really was the tough of the track back then.

[@yolbrennan859]

I was 12 seeing Ovett and Coe competing in this race on TV, I started cross country running because of Ovett the fastest lap in the history. Today is 22 May 2019.

[@victorobanye6024]

Same age as me. I was a massive Ovett fan

[@elizabethevelyn9761]

Me too.. all 12 yr olds loved Ovett!

[@jamescarpenter6585]

All I ever hear about is how Coe messed this race up. In fact, Coe finished further behind Ovett at the finish than he was at the bell...At those Olympics, both athletes were so supremely confident in their own ability that they didn’t realise that whichever one of them kicked first was the winner. They were freakishly level pegging...Coe underestimated Ovett in the first race and Ovett did the same in the 1500...as for Straib in the 1500, well it was the first Olympics to be staged behind the iron curtain...I’ll let others do the maths 🙄

[@keinKlarname]

The maths tell that you are british and extremely biased. Fastest lap ever? Faster than both of Rudisha's laps when Rudisha ran faster for the whole race on average than Ovett for this one lap? Do the maths.

[@-ShootTheGlass-]

@@jamescarpenter6585 Coe needed to accelerate 350m so he wasn’t last into the 500m mark. He completely stuffed up.

[@geoplaten337]

Coe v Ovett in the early 80s, that was the golden age of middle distance, 800/1500/mile.

[@colinmcdougal6233]

Growing up watching this in Scotland all my family and friends wanted Ovett to beat Coe. There was just something about him that we all liked better.

[@stanmonzon5788]

I passed Ovett’s statue on the seafront in Brighton today. It had a mask on.

[@truthteller339]

I remember Coe being utterly mortified that he'd lost this race to Ovett. There was a huge rivalry at the time and they werent known for being exactly friends. Something absolutely shifted in Coe and drove him to win the 1500, he was on a mission.

[@kimaspindale9721]

Coe complacent arrogant

[@CBS70s]

The “something shifted” was Coe’s father. His father humiliated him after that 800.

[@pietrodi1]

Ovett and Coe what a champions!

[@smfvmd]

Great to hear David Coleman’s voice again.

[@Fatima502]

In his book Ovett revealed that he was expecting Kirov to take the lead somewhere on the backstraight. Which is exactly what happened at the blue eyes like chips of ice moment. He was focussed on Kirov and that decisive. Both he and Coleman were spot on.

[@fredt3727]

They didn't hang about back then. Straight onto the track and then the start line!

[@elliebellie7816]

Yes, we didn't have to endure a five-minute leadup to the race!

[@davidgrace2951]

Best track and field announcer of all time.

[@nzburger]

David Grace who is he?

[@DJ_Hadez]

@@nzburger David Coleman, who worked for the BBC for 46 years, covering 11 Summer Olympic Games. Truly one of the greats.

[@ThefightingCelt]

I was very much an Ovett fan , but I thought Coe would win this race and Steve the 1500m - in fact , the reverse happened . Shortly after I remember sitting next to an older man in a pub who was letting everyone know his opinion of the two British runners and how he would bet anyone and everyone that Coe would " definitely " turn the tables in the 1500 . He was right .

[@simonedwards5564]

THAT IS A FANTASTIC 👌👍 STORY!!!!!!

[@MrBendibus]

Ovett won it. Coe didn't lose it.

[@birendersinghsachan182]

It's the video clip I watch again and again!!!! 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

[@brianmcd9492]

The great races on Telly no satellite dishes back then in the 80's.Tune into BBC1 or BBC2 back then, saw all the Running on every olympic games brilliant coverage we got 🙂

[@LVPAcharn]

Love it !!! l watched it live and was always a Steve Ovett fan , he ran the perfect race !!

[@thailandwild4897]

Me too.... I always preferred him... and I remember this race so well.

[@dariusthepersian8359]

@@thailandwild4897 Me too!

[@elizabethtanner9050]

Didn't run the perfect race, but good enough

[@jamescarpenter6585]

@@elizabethtanner9050 sub 51 sec last lap destroyed the field

[@elizabethtanner9050]

@@jamescarpenter6585 He covered the 2nd lap in 50.5 seconds. Brilliant.

[@bobshiel4685]

Ovett not disqualified on the 1st lap is one of many sub-plots in this historic race.

[@andysmith8890]

Remember watching it like yesterday

[@spleeeen4it]

always preferred man of the people ovett over tory toff coe

[@peterwhent66]

Completely agree. In those days you were Team Ovett or Team Coe. I was definitely Team Ovett. Not to take anything away from Coe. He was an awesome athlete. I just didn't like him.

[@albertattla3601]

Growing up in the 80's i was a big fan of coe and ray leonard. As i grew older i appreciated ovett and duran more and more. 💘

[@kevindean1327]

@@albertattla3601 Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Salvador Sanchez, Duran, Arguello, McCallum, Sibson, Holmes, Hearns were all boxers I appreciated more than Leonard. Even though I'm very objective and rate prime Leonard behind Robinson as the second best WW ever. Just thought he was a phoney. I watch the Leonard Camacho fight for pure enjoyment!!!

[@Ruda-n4h]

Why is he a toff - because he speaks well?

[@ProfessorChomsky]

No, because he is a wee tory rat.@@Ruda-n4h

[@andre1987eph]

Kirov actually ran a brilliant race. He stayed close to the rail all 800 Meters

[@WithBACON]

Perhaps he moved a bit too soon, but other than that, yes.

[@santhanaraj5863]

The greatest era in British athletics !! This is one of the finest races of all time !!

[@colinmcdougal6233]

Ovett was brilliant!

[@elliebellie7816]

I love to watch these old films. In most cases, I watching them all in real time.

[@josephharley9448]

Many years later the two met and talked about the races. Coe said to Ovett that on Christmas day he had two intense sessions. Ovetts reply was "are you being serious, only two" I thought that summed up their rivalry.

[@anty66]

To watch Steve running was very exciting waiting for that burst of speed near the end, great days.

[@philipswain4122]

I was a huge fan of Steve Ovett. His running style and strategy were brilliant

[@rampart6557]

Ovett's sand dune training and heavy sand running paid off.

[@martynhanson]

DQ i don't think so. This thing happened in the sport then. Look at the 10000m in Tokyo 64 the way Billy Mills was pushed, far worse than what Ovett did, by Clarke and Gamoudi in the last lap. Anyway, Re 800m no complaint was put in by any of the runners or their ruling bodies. I think no complaint would have been put in as this happened before halfway.

[@4EyedAnimation]

Ovett was bad ass

[@glenmorgan4597]

Great to see, remember this live, got me taking up running though not very good at 800, only done 2:05

[@user-vt7fl8zr5n77]

Great Run... Fantastik finish My favorlte Steve Ovett...

[@JBH123]

Nowadays, Ovett would almost certainly get DQ'd for that first shove of Wagenknecht. In 1980, apparently that wasn't the case. For whatever it's worth, besides being tall, Wagenknecht had a very "wide elbows" style, so he took up a lot of space on the track. At least one other runner caught an elbow from him in this race. Interestingly, Wagenknecht gives Ovett his own shove *after* the race at 2:52. EDIT: The post-race contact was Busse, not Wagenknecht. Oops.

[@Codzilla71]

Noticed the shove at the end, as did Ovett, but didn't realize it was retaliation!

[@arnoldbissen9921]

Funny that this is the first comment about the shoving and pushing. It seems though that Ovett started it (at 1.21), and did it again a bit later.

[@stephan6063]

50 sec last lap thats phenomenal

[@jeremyhomewood9573]

YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@beorlingo]

Ovett was a great boxer and wrestler!

[@robertboyle2573]

He sure was!

[@Iloveliterature]

Steve Ovett, the greatest of them all! Absolute legend.

[@johnf991]

Aside from all the establishment v ordinary bloke stuff about Coe and Ovett, Coe's 800m problem, to me, was that he wasn't a true racer whereas Ovett was. Over 1500m Coe had a bit more time to correct his tactical errors. It always galls me why somebody like Coe in a world class 800m race didn't simply run the first 400 in 50.0 (or less) and then nobody would be able to live with him in the last 200. Why did he get sucked into tactical 800s? He's not alone in this. Great days, though, of course! I remember seeing him run at Crystal Palace in maybe the late 70s/early 80s and he did a 1.44 seemingly without effort, but he was against a field which was arguably a class below him so he didn't get sucked unto a race.

[@whahappened8398]

I think ur on the money... Coe did not go forward enough at the start... hung back and it cost him. Coe was always acutely aware of 'arjy barjy' jostling and would run wide to avoid it. Ovett was only too happy to mix it in the scrum. Both Coe & Ovett were wonderful for the sport, both brilliant and deservedly have Olympic Gold for their efforts.

[@jamescarpenter6585]

Did Coe mess it up?…or did it have something to do with Ovett’s sub 51 sec final lap?

[@choppy249]

A mixture of both I think . It’s almost as if Coe forgot Ovett was in the race . It was a huge tactical blunder on his part . Giving Ovett four or five metres head start when the last 200m started was always going to be a no win situation . He was so used to making up that kind of deficit to other athletes when he was in form , fairly easily but against Steve Ovett , quite impossible . Funnily enough I think Ovett made a similar mistake later on in the 1500m just allowing Coe too much of a head start before the final sprint began . Although later he said that his legs were just too heavy and he felt so tired . Probably the 800m with all the heats etc just took too much out of him . Personally I think that if Coe had of won the 800 then Ovett would have been so geared up that he would have won the 1500. All speculation I know but that’s the way I see it . I think that Ovett was so pleased at winning the 800m that he mentally relaxed and took his eye off the ball for the 1500m ( his better event ).

[@theenglishalpinist5031]

I'd like to mess up and win an Olympic silver medal, and then a gold, and then another silver and gold at the next Olympics.

[@carlpeterkirkebo2036]

@@theenglishalpinist5031 Yes, exactly!

[@joemcm1]

@@choppy249 he let coe win the 1500m just my opinion

[@beorlingo]

You can't mess up when someone else goes sub 51.

[@bondbug73]

David Warren just for making the 800 metres final with Coe and Ovett. 👏👏

[@TheRasiani]

Ovett was always the "racer", and Coe the "time" guy. Ovett was big in championships for that reason. He did whatever. Coe got knocked off his strategy - he came close to pulling it out, but Ovett just said no way.

[@trevorpalin4731]

ovett, coe and cram. great days for middle distance runners

[@AvailableHandle]

Don't forget Dave Warren.

[@user-dr7qu4yo8o]

А были у нас до Борзаковского классные бегуны на 800 м.Аржанов и Киров тому подтверждение.Жаль у Кирова сил не хватило.Рано рванул.Но все равно третье место почетно.

[@gowers1972]

I know the full Los Angeles 1984 800m final was on KZbin for awhile, but I can't seem to find it now. Is it still out there?

[@Haiti2011Harold]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/i2PYlp-YiZV5nqs

[@phillylifer]

Wwhere was that giant Cuban? Did he fail to qualify?

[@peteryoo4211]

Steve Ovett should have not come to LA 1984 while he’s not well recovered from respiratory problems but he did to take risk to try to defend 800m title at LA but no, finished 8th. Overall Ovett regretted came to LA 1984

[@paulwilliams8389]

Certainly with hindsight he would not have run in the 800m in LA and saved himself for the 1500m - even below full fitness he may have got a medal. As it was he was ruined after the 800m though was still good enough to make the 1500m final before having to drop out at the bell.

[@deansiephillips437]

Terrific race the best!!

[@dancrenshaw4089]

Still use this race to demonstrate why you don't stay in the far outside; adding unnecessary distance.

[@geekpie100]

If I ever met David Coleman, I would like to ask, where did “Those blue eyes like chips of ice” come from. It’s a lovely metaphor: did he just think it up on the spur of the moment?

[@Trigger_000]

*I don't think you'll get much of an answer from Coleman. Not unless you ask him via a psychic.*

[@pipster1891]

It's a simile.

[@geekpie100]

@@pipster1891 A simile is a type of metaphor.

[@geekpie100]

David Coleman could not see Ovett's eyes at that moment. It was a spontaneous outburst borne of long hours talking to those delphic eyes in the years leading towards this great climax of the modern era.

[@reedoutloud]

Steve Ovett!❤

[@graemestarkey7524]

I was so happy Ovett won this race. Always something unlikeable about Coe.

[@jontalbot1]

He’s a Tory. Most of them are unlikeable

[@tonymcgrath700]

This along with the 1500 metres was a huge event back in 1980, so glad Steve Ovett beat the arrogant Seb Coe who thought he would win this without breaking sweat, the look on his face at the medal ceremony when it sunk in he'd got beat lol, he didn't even look at Ovett when they shook hands

[@darrenshaw767]

tony mcgrath did you like the look on Coe's face after he beat Ovett and won the 1500m?

[@mathematics5573]

tony, not necessary to be so nasty about Seb Coe. You need a quite a ,ot of arrogance to be the best in the world. High confidence and arrogance are not very different at the levels of olympic gold and world records. Britain has had noone in 800m and 1500m running of Sebs or Ovetts ability since they all retired

[@elizabethevelyn9761]

@@darrenshaw767 Coe was petulant.. I wouldn't trust him..

[@darrenshaw767]

@@elizabethevelyn9761 trust him with what? It was two races😂😂

[@pipster1891]

@@darrenshaw767 Ovett didn't cry and sulk when he didn't win.

[@raffaojeda]

where was Juantorena?

[@andywright8803]

True gladiators

[@user-bf6qp1xb3e]

Коэ слишком самонадеянно вёл бег. Отпустил далеко Оввета, понадеявшись на свой финиш. За это и поплатился.

[@robbiefindlay]

800m is the toughest track event there is.

[@francishunt562]

For me the toughest is the 400m...basically sprinting for a whole lap.

[@nicholasjones7990]

Pars pro Toto. Refer to the part of something as the entirety. David Coleman incorrectly referring to Russia instead of the Soviet Union.

[@beorlingo]

But was he also Russian though?

[@nicholasjones7990]

@@beorlingo He also referred to the Netherlands as Holland.

[@beorlingo]

@@nicholasjones7990 yeah this happened all the the time where I live too. In the '70s I can't recall anyone saying anything but "Holland". And we played a lot of hockey games against the Soviet Union and for commentators it was always a mix of "Ryssarna" and "Sovjet". In the hockey team there would always be that Latvian player among the Russians.

[@LPCLASSICAL]

If Kirov had been second - I am sure a protest would have been lodged by the E German team and Ovett may have been DQ for pushing - leaving a Soviet block athlete as the champ. But Coe was second so gold would have gone to a UK athlete anyway and they decided not to make a fuss.

[@jeffreylancaster7571]

excellent point!

[@martydav9475]

@@jeffreylancaster7571 Ovett was a bruiser who didn't mess about.

[@leecousins7805]

David Coleman Legend

[@rajeshtr1736]

800m,real hero ovett

[@wildernesstraining1957]

Steve rocks

[@timmytheinventor4746]

Man Ovett was capable of running a 1:43.0 in his prime, specifically this year. But he was never able to fulfill his potential in that event and never broke 1:44.

[@andrewdunne1735]

I backed Coe to win, doubled my stake on him for the 1500 and partied for a month, toff or not he was poetry in motion

[@Zndwls]

Yes, probably today Ovett would be disqualified for his rough pushing of one runner first, and of two runners second.

[@slomofome14]

Edit the title. Saying who won ruins it for people like me who've never seen this race

[@thomasmckenzie4584]

Thank you. WTF would they tell us who wins? Pisses me off!!!

[@geoffthomson1686]

Exactly !

[@user-nq4rv3zn3i]

That race seemed a lot quicker than 1.45

[@eastcoastuk1120]

were these 2 destined to win each others best events.. I believe so.

[@VADELMAHILLO-cw7jm]

NICE...

[@jeremygrimshaw9697]

Who wants to watch a video of a race if you tell us from the start who the winner is? Not me!!

[@judibill72]

Should not even be considered seeing it was boycotted as real world didn't go.

[@charles-mr4oz]

An early commentary by Alan Partridge

[@colincampbell3781]

Coe didn't like Ovett. Coe became part of the Establishment and made sure that Ovett received the barest minimum in terms of public honours. Simplest explanation: Occam's Razor.

[@anthonyclarke5579]

Jerry Springer runs the race of his life....🤣

[@bigplameuk]

Where's the Mexican?

[@fernandovillanueva2429]

Jumping the wall very quickly 😂😂😂

[@ernestovaldesgonzallez5156]

Lol juantorena the horse always will be the best in 800

[@jeffreylancaster7571]

Ovett & Coe were bitter rivals.No love lost between the two. Both truly great runners! If Coe started in lanes 1-4 he would have walked away with it!

[@thomasmckenzie4584]

Jeffrey, I politely disagree with you. Why do you think he would've won if he was in lanes 1-4? It's only for 1 turn that you need to stay in your lane. It was a tactical decision (and probably a poor one) that he made to run from the back. I don't think the lane would've made any difference. Not to mention Ovett was in a much worse position with a lap to go.

[@peterwhent66]

@@thomasmckenzie4584 I agree. It was nothing to do with lanes. Coe got it wrong, and while he may been able to dig himself out of trouble in some races, with Ovett running a 50 second last lap, there was no room for error.

[@driver2212]

Utter nonsense! The media built up the rivalry - they were never "buddies" but had a healthy respect for each other. I liked Ovett because he was a racer and had a tremendous "kick", but also had fantastic strength and tactical ability. Coe tended to pick his races with records in mind, and did very well from it. But the better athlete for me was always Ovett, who enjoyed racing for the fun of it! Thanks to both of them, for all those memories!🙂🙂🙂

[@Lebowski53]

@@driver2212Ovett didn’t race for the ‘fun of it’. His sporting background was remarkably similar; with an overbearing parent (for him, his mother, for Coe, his father). He was aloof and distant, just like Coe. Both were moulded for championship athletics. The press turned them into a rivalry when they were, in actual fact, very much the same. In terms of racing, yes, Ovett was perhaps ‘stronger’. But Coe had an absurdly quick change of pace and could break a field in seconds.

[@ediestomuflon3891]

It s like a lil bit better than olizarenko 's performance

[@iangraham9050]

No sports or acting, or doing any job that is not dangerous deserves a knighthood. Knights were men of bravery, valour, and chivalrous. These were ‘real’ men who fought for the people, and who would always put others before themselves. Anyone who doesn’t fall into that category can get their little gold medal, their little gold statuette and then carry on doing their little running about thing and their pretending to be somebody else lives!

[@vincentpele6851]

Dommage qu'ils n'aient plus cette densité, cela donnerait peut être plus d'envies aux autres pays Européens...

[@djangorheinhardt]

EH ?

[@CoherentChimp]

One nil.

[@lunarsabbatical7906]

How was Ovett not DQd with all the pushing and elbowing

[@johannesmatahelemual5995]

Great Commentator...

[@peterwhent66]

Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I just don't get it with David Coleman. I thought he was an awful commentator.

[@derekbert1201]

PEOPLE THAT WAS KNOWN AS THE BRITISH BULLDOG SPIRIT MAJESTIC

[@jmsmith363]

The East German was the real thug. Seb ran a tactically poor race, but gave a brave effort.

[@adm924s]

You have to say if Coe hadn't cocked up his position he would probably have won both

[@djangorheinhardt]

NO!!

[@kenyamendez7710]

Y los mexicanos donde,.

[@phillandsboxingskills]

Watch the race again... Ovett was being deliberately impeded. It's a contact sport! If there had been a fall, then maybe a DQ

[@keinKlarname]

Ovett definitely should have been DQd. It's a contact sport? Aha. Let me guess, you are not from the country in your name!?

[@colderbeer]

I'm an American and I have no problem with a faster runner pushing his way thru the crowd the way Ovett did.....

[@thomasmckenzie4584]

I'm with colderbeer. Even though I think he's lucky he wasn't dq'd, I have no problem either with a guy pushing a slower runner. Get the slugs off the track. It was a blatant push though, for really no reason.

[@peterwhent66]

@@keinKlarname In 1980 that kind of physical middle distance racing was quite common. At the time, no-one mentioned Ovett's pushing (apart from a quick mention in the commentary). It's just the way it was.

[@keinKlarname]

@@peterwhent66 No, this was not quite common in 1980 what Ovett did in this race. At 20 seconds: wtf is he doing? At 23 seconds. creating completely unnecessary trouble. At 49 seconds: an attempt to put away the two runners in front of you with your hands is OK to you? It is not OK and Ovett definitely should have been dqd. Ovett was a great runner and as far as I know a great person as well, but here - and on some other occasions - he just acted like mad.

[@stevenmycroft1782]

No real surprise here as Ovett had already beaten Coe over 800m in the European Championships 2 years earlier.

[@LPCLASSICAL]

But it was a surprise at the time as Coe in 1979 shattered the 800M WR.

[@stevenmycroft1782]

World record runs are totally different to Championship races.

[@paulwilliams8389]

It was a surprise as Coe had matured a lot since then, broken the world record and was undoubtedly #1 in the world at 800m. Everyone thought that Coe would win the 800 and Ovett the 1500.

[@MoominJude]

Coe ran a tactically poor race, at one point he was at the back a long way off the lead. He expended too much energy getting back, to have the kick to catch up, although he did a great job to get second. Had Coe been alongside Ovett, he probably would have taken it, but it would have been tight given Ovett’s last lap. Great race, but Ovett manhandled the German runner. He would have been DQed these days. The glory days of British middle distance running.

[@lincolnbreen2628]

Hard for Coe in lane 8 and the runner next to him kept him out, all tactics.

[@paulwilliams8389]

Absolutely - Coe's last 200m must have been incredibly fast to get the Silver medal from where he was. No chance of him catching Ovett from so far behind.

[@jamezkpal2361]

What a dumb run by Coe. He could've just gone out and made the pace and run even Ovett into the ground. 800 is too short to get stupid.