Sebastian Coe v Steve Ovett documentary: - Clash of the Titans

Documentary on rivalry between Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe, focusing on Moscow 1980.

[@ChristopherCudworth]

I met Seb when he came to America for consultation with a podiatrist named Dr. John Durkin who created orthotics to deal with Seb’s calf injuries due to pronation. We ran a slow couple miles together because I knew the neighborhood around the office. I was a 4:15 miler, a sub-elite guy, so it was an honor to run with one of the world’s greatest athletes.

[@oleggorky906]

You have a Yorkshire surname, curiously. Cudworth is a village about three miles north east of the centre of Barnsley, once a centre of coal mining ⛏ in the old West Riding of Yorkshire. Coe also had a Yorkshire connection as he ran for the Hallamshite Harriers in Sheffield. Sheffield was once a major centre of steel production; crucible steel, Old Sheffield Plate and stainless steel were all invented/discovered in the city. Oh well, I guess you know a bit more about the county from where you get your name now! 😂

[@michaelmcginley7930]

Still a great time you ran Christopher that subb4 min for 1500

[@DanielDennerline]

❤❤

[@LK-bz9sk]

Wow. Thanks for sharing.

[@steveweiss7191]

John Durkin was my college roommate and good friend. He was the go to guy among podiatrists and had many top sports clients over decades. His brother, Mike, is a top attorney in the Chicago suburbs and was a two time 1500 meter Olympion for the US team, and ran for the University of Illinois. I really miss him.

[@truthmatters5209]

Steve Ovett was one of the most naturally gifted runners of all time who just loved running and thrived on competition. Coe was a hugely dedicated but you get the impression he was really just trying to please his father and driven by the fear of losing. Very different athletes but both deserve credit for their achievements.

[@raykinsella6895]

A golden age. Ovett the supreme racer...

[@user-cu1rp6lw9q]

It certainly was, Cow, Ovett, Cram, and not forgetting Daley Thompson....great athlete's and household names, and sporting heroes to me as a young child. Halcyon days indeed.

[@martinfiay8908]

im 52 and remember the ding dong battles in primary school in Sydney Australia , i was 10 in 1980 and remember Alan Wells sprinter , Coe , Ovett and Daly Thompson , what a great Britain squad

[@ppgedez]

I remember after he retired Ovett was doing commentary and he was great very honest and to the point and they never asked him back. It was a shame.

[@mcsemark]

I was running track in high school in NY when this rivalry blew up and inspired my team mates and I. Thank you gentlemen for what you did for track & field. And thank you for this KZbin channel.

[@paulwhitmore7878]

Steve Ovett was one of my sporting heroes the ultimate fun runner, a magnificent miler and 1500mtr man, Coe was the finest 800 mtr runner of my lifetime, but Steve, what a cool guy.

[@geoffnelson6756]

I was in the military at the time and a bog standard runner,so I was intently interested in this. I was a Coe fan at the time, likely based on aesthetics as Coe was so silky smooth,the intense press interest clearly affected Coe's mental approach to the event, Ovett just kept out of it and did his thing. Funny that today with some life behind me I have more respect for Ovett and his strength of character.

[@user-xg6yc8ho3w]

What a great video, thank you. It was such a great time for middle distance running. Especially for Britain with Steve Cram right there too.

[@KaitainCPS]

One thing usually not mentioned about Coe was that he was of British-Indian ancestry. His maternal grandfather, Sardari Lal, was Punjabi.

[@fender1000100]

When I was a kid these guys were like running gods.

[@Arun-nv8zi]

I grew up watching these two giants, Ovett was the man for me.

[@kerryfry1857]

And me.. ♥️

[@Chief_Brody]

I saw Coe run live when he competed for Haringey. Must've been 84/85 and was a hot summer day. He obviously jogged to victory. Daley Thompson used to be at the stadium (New River) quite a bit as well and he once nearly knocked my head off as he sauntered around the corner with a pole vault on his shoulder. I was in awe to be standing 3 feet away from the great man.

[@deano27671]

Coe and Thompson are very good friends.

[@memorywarrior8752]

The media liked Coe because they could monetize him and hated Ovett because they could not monetize him. And it's still the same. It's great that they both got an olympic gold medal - so many of these types of stories end up with one man who never win a medal

[@James1-9-7-8]

Fascinating documentary! Definitely remember them from when I was young, but being born in 1978 I missed their greatest rivalry.

[@richardmannion2779]

i was a huge Ovett fan and was as nervous for those Moscow finals as i was for my own races. i find Coe hard to like, but i think it is on me not him - i read his autobiography "running my life" and thought "why does everything have to be about him?"....well it is his autobiography. However, as a runner he was really special. i was fortunate to see him race in person a few times and even just warming up that controlled power and balance was obvious. Way more impressive in person than on TV. i think the TV coverage hides just how good the people being beaten by Seb and Steve were...creates the impression that those 1:45 and 3:35 guys were uncoordinated hacks when really they were also very talented. Both Seb and Steve were special talents who would have succeeded in any era......not that many runners are that much faster now despite it being almost 43 years ago.

[@RH-xf4vf]

I don't think that is just on you, not him. Back in the day I knew someone who ran with them both and who surprised me and my family by saying that, contrary to media opinion, Steve Ovett was a really nice and likeable guy. Coe, he said was smarmy, slippery, and an unpleasant person.

[@roberthowe2910]

​@RH-xf4vf ..yes I agree....Steve just was a chilled bloke.whi was a natural..

[@Mike-H_UK]

Another great video. Many thanks for sharing.

[@swississue8550]

Beautiful memorys ! Thanks !

[@richardmcniff6776]

I owe you an opolygy Steve Ovett, I believed the press.

[@JammyGit]

Not forgetting Steve Cram as well as Coe & Ovett. We had some world class middle distance runners in England during the early 80s 👍

[@Chief_Brody]

I vividly remember the summer of 1985 when he smashed the world records for Mile, 1500m and 2000m within 3 weeks. Great athlete

[@roberthowe2910]

​@@Chief_Brodyyer and Don.t forget Peter elliot....maybe a yard behind the other 3..but such a gutsy runner

[@michaelboardman8810]

Truly a lovely time to be alive

[@CrueLoaf]

Ovett was a lovely guy. Got his autograph.

[@billywinfield7275]

In the UK 1st you had Steve Ovett. WoW. his sheer love of winning 🥇 Along comes Seb Coe, who says Wait a sec. Hold my beer 🍻 I can take Ovett on and does on a number of Olympic occasions after Ovett tumbles in his training. And by 1980, comes along Steve Cram, tall and quick and lean all of 19 yrs of age sprinting with the best of them. now running is really Soaring.. for leisure, fitness, and competition. Everywhere I look folks are running, jogging....it's fantastic And just to add more fun comes the American, fresh off the bridal paths of Upland, California it's this very loveable smiling Steve Scott who gives it a go representing the American spirit to go Sub-4..and every other kid who dreams of heroism and Olympic excellence on the heels of Dave Wottle, John Walker and Pre's early death in Oregon🤔 What joy there was in running! What a time we had of it! Just an incredible era of phenomenal atheletes🏃 Thankyou Jesus

[@richardmilliken8705]

Herb Elliot, Peter Snell, Jim Ryun dominated the mile during the late 50s-early 70s and every kid in America during the 60s-70s wanted to be the next Jim Ryun including Pre. Most of us were over-training during H.S. We were running over 100 miles per week and training 2-3 times per day. I had already run 10 marathons by the time i graduated H.S. By the time i was 30 i had run over 100 marathons. The early 70s thru the early 80s was the running boom in the USA. Frank Shorter, Pre, and Bill Rodgers were killing it. Those days are long gone.

[@terryallen5328]

Most countries are lucky to have one great runner we had two with Coe & Ovett. Three of you count Steve Cram who followed on from them both.

[@ZeldaFitz]

Ovett looks uncannily like Mick Jones from The Clash.

[@user-ro2ee7cn3f]

Amazing Thanks...

[@LK-bz9sk]

I am 62 now and I remember these races like they were yesterday. What an epic time in middle distance. I agree. There wont be another quite like this.

[@redd605]

I looked at that 1500 m again , Steve was ready to kick,on seb shoulder , but seb just seem to fly he just pulled away 2-3 metres, he was running scared, like your feet was on fire, I only experience this kind of floating once when everything is perfect in your running style , never had that feeling again , but remember when and where

[@deano27671]

@@redd605 Coe’s famous ‘double kick’. He kicked once with about 150m to go, running the bend in 12.9 to draw up towards Straub. This almost exactly coincided with Ovett’s move, as he pulled up to Coe’s shoulder. Ovett’s last 100m was 12.6 (marginally faster than his last 100 in the 800m final. The reason it didn’t get him past Straub is almost certainly due to the GDR athlete being doped as part of their state sponsored programme. But it wasn’t good enough to beat Coe on the day, who then kicked again with about 80m to go. He got a 3m gap and was pulling away all the time in the last 50m. The stats tell us just how incredible that last straight was - 12.1 secs. Never matched at the end of any championship final 100 in a 1500m final. As a point of reference, Kerr’s last 100m in the Budapest final was 13.6, albeit in a faster overall race.

[@redd605]

@@deano27671 one thing for sure ,I was screaming at the TV for kerr to do it, one thing I like is when a over confidence, athlete , showing disrespect, maybe not on purpose to the other ,in the semi final and final gets beat, the same way . Great seeing the 3 world 1500 m champion talking about there race wins and how they did it and there build up,

[@redd605]

The thing I miss is the coaches in the inside of the track during this period and seb dad made these periods special to seeing his reaction during seb runs and also Steve and seb , unbelievable period on dominance

[@johnbarton9986]

When these two were at their peak make no mistake they made every other sports person around the world pale into comparison.

[@jamespearson7001]

superb athletes, when the only thing that passed through their bodies was food and water.

[@boltyboy]

i lived though this in the UK. Athletics was huge then, on TV all the time when football wasn't. This absolutely gripped the nation. And I think the question of who was the best was never really answered.....but what a fantastic time

[@craigsimons817]

Like most rivalries they drove each other on, pushing one another to be better and faster still.

[@johnstirling6597]

I remember sitting up late at night in NZ listening to the radio when the 1500 was run, willing Ovett to win, but not to be. Never saw the race until I was in England in 1984.

[@sammeggs3572]

Sebcoe was my idol growing up. Loved Ovett as well.

[@briz1965]

for what it's worth I was a young teenager back in the day of seb & ovett - inspired me no end

[@downtherabbithole1353]

Miss those times

[@ottolormann7797]

Very nice Video

[@craigsimons817]

They were both great enough to beat one another at their own game, so to speak. Coe was such a great 800m runner only Ovett could beat him and vice versa the 1500m. The Senna and Prost of athletics!

[@deano27671]

I always remember a quote from the great statistician/journalist, Mel Watman, who encapsulated the rivalry in Moscow. “They were (both) good enough to win both finals (8 & 15), but too good to lose both!”. As much as I am a Coe fan and wanted him to do the double, Ovett was just too good to allow that to happen. Historically, it seems unthinkable that Ovett wouldn’t win an Olympic title. It’s a great shame that the World Champs came along towards the 2nd half of their careers and were only held every 4 years then. This, in addition to 2 years of injury and illness (82/83) for both men, prevented them accumulating several World titles too.

[@craigsimons817]

Yes I agree and would add that perhaps both athletes found the Moscow games so stressful and pressurised that they neither wanted to race each other again. I don’t think Coe or Ovett enjoyed the experience of those meetings.

[@gordonbradley3241]

I lived through it ! There were giants then !

[@joemorgan636]

Never ever see this again those days long gone they were both top notch seriously I was just laughing too myself while each other were breaking each other world record madness that will never be done again

[@wobblertv8083]

Ovett out in front with his Soviet vest on ....iconic .

[@TheLondonForever00]

Gorwing up watching these immense atheletes was a truly great period of British running I feel lucky to have watched. Then Cram comes along.

[@070911021302]

Takes me back....a golden era of Britain having two of the greatest athletes in the history of the sport competing with each other at the same time.....

[@jimmulholland1559]

Coe had perfect balance in his legs which is very rare. No rocking in his stride added to his pace.

[@stephenfarrant6439]

Seb Coe. Not gracious in defeat or in winning. But that's not taking away what an incredible athlete he was. Those were the days when athletics were a must watch.

[@UlloMark]

Yes, Seb and Ovett were great; But, the star of this video, is Mama Coe...! (and Daley Thompson)

[@martin777xyz]

Brings back memories 😁

[@vincentchastel2025]

Coe is really hard to like.

[@stephenreeds3632]

Loved Ovett and found Coe so aware of himself that it grated.

[@KryptonitetoallBS]

I always find it interesting how people allow outside reasons to either like or dislike a sportsman/athlete. I'm not a big fan of Coe as a politician or a man necessarily but I can separate that from Coe the athlete. Many say that Ovett was arrogant mainly because of his wave well before a race was over, but that didn't bother me, I just saw it as a bit of bravado and to excite the crowd. I can't deny it though, Sebastian Coe is the greatest middle distance runner who ever lived 👍

[@russellfrancis6294]

I like this Steve Ovett already !

[@talkinghead3169]

Always preferred Steve.

[@andrepoole2712]

To be honest, I think Steve had a heart and let Seb win.

[@bobmiller6708]

What a joke. When Ovett won the 800 the eye of the tiger dissipated. The weight of the world was off his shoulders once he won the 800. He said it himself. He was ready to go home.

[@klnine]

Cram Ovett Coe , incredible DS era

[@cliffrightmove1527]

It was wonderful to see Britain greatest ATHLETE should be in the House of Lords DALEY THOMPSON ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@PlateletRichGel]

Wish Doc could take me back to 1980 where I could place bets for Seb in the 1500.

[@bernardt874]

when i was very young i remember my dad braking hard on a street in arundel causing utter mayhem uttering the words ......and all we could see is the top of his head running along above a hedge......

[@alangeorgebarstow]

It was comical how David Coleman, the commentator, insisted on pronouncing the name of German runner, Jurgen Strauß, as "Straub", when it is correctly pronounced "Strauss". What happened to research?

[@roberthowe2910]

Ovett..wat a natural runner...he was just a natural.....can.t say that. For many others...

[@bmclaughlin01]

What an amazing time for British athletics.

[@John-ge2ne]

Thank you for sharing this. Steve Ovett was a better distance runner that Sebastian Coe. Coe never competed in big event 2 mile and above. Steve Ovett did and beat Henry Rono. I appears that Sebastian Coe had a good coach and great leg speed like a sprinter. That is why he set the word record in the 800 meters. If I had a better coach, I would have run 1:39 in the 800 meters and set the world record.

[@joemcm1]

if ovett had had peter coe as his trainer-there would be no seb coe

[@John-ge2ne]

@@joemcm1 no doubt

[@deano27671]

Lol. Coe beat Cova, Coghlan, McLeod, Panetta, all medalists over 5 or 10k in races over 4miles. There was nothing wrong with Coe’s long distance ability, he just chose not to run those distances on the track.

[@deano27671]

@@joemcm1 based on what? That is terribly disrespectful to Harry Wilson, Ovett’s coach and GB’s head middle distance coach at one time! Their training was quite different, and suited getting the best out of them. Had they each trained with the other’s coach, neither would likely have been as successful.

[@joemcm1]

hi deano i think while harry certainly helped early in ovetts career i think after about 1978 ovett pretty much trained himself.what im getting at is that peter coe would have taken ovetts natural talent apart and constructed something simply unbeatable-just my opinion of course.peter coe was a genius,wilson was 'just' a very good coach@@deano27671

[@gwynjames]

Three of the best ever runners all champions ,and who would win,and of course David Coleman commentating what a race ,Coe ovett and cram in the same race ffs amazing to watch

[@njd2342]

When sport was sport and massive money had not been invented for running around a circle.

[@paulterry7672]

liked them both the best time for British athletics

[@oleggorky906]

Interesting that Mrs Thatcher was wanting the team not to go to Moscow in 1980, yet when it came to sanctions on South Africa, she never seemed to have much to say. Hmmmm ...

[@KryptonitetoallBS]

Typical behaviour for a hypocrite like Thatcher 👍

[@oleggorky906]

@@KryptonitetoallBS 👍

[@jennysmith8835]

@@KryptonitetoallBS world is full of them,

[@mrkipling2201]

Agreed. It was the English cricket board that gave the rebel tourists of 1982 a 3 year ban from test cricket for going to play in South Africa.

[@Spectrescup]

​@KryptonitetoallBS if she was simply a hypocrite it wouldn't have been an issue. Everyone's a hypocrite if they make any attempt to live a more ethical life in this world. As it is she was a rancid, evil witch who destroyed the post-war social consensus.

[@GeoAce777]

6:42 BAD ASS

[@timgallagher1041]

For whatever reason I always rooted for Ovett But both are champions for sure

[@rock-and-dirt]

This nonsense should stop. When born as a male, you should never be allowed to compete in women's sport, regardless of how many surgeries and hormone treatments the person has undergone.

[@ifidontknownooneknows]

In the 800m didn't Ovett run the quickest second 400m on record I think 🤔, so to say it was because Coe got it wrong is very hard on Ovett me thinks....

[@Lankyfool234]

If you watch the final, Coe is tactically very poor

[@deano27671]

Ovett’s last 400m (50.5) is the quickest 2nd lap in any championship final! Of course you have a point, but consider that Coe ran 50.7 while running a conservative 7m extra on the last 2 bends. That is about 0.9 secs, meaning Coe was running sub 50 sec pace for the last 400m.

[@Dirk-my2zf]

Ovett expatriated to Australia.

[@klnine]

sir seb says it all DS

[@jakehaymes4438]

Ovett much nicer

[@A-small-amount-of-peas]

I sympathise with Steve Ovett. Sports "journalists" questions are rudimentary, crude and antagonistic in a bid to generate as juicy of a headline as possible

[@rodneyallister9877]

Overt was my time as a club runner now 80 years old I ran for 30 year I am Australia Herb E days as a boy rain dreaming

[@markauckland666]

Ovett everytime...

[@johnmcdermott2551]

Why is Dr. House running?

[@davidhaspell6417]

Frank Bough lol!

[@klnine]

Daly god

[@PedrSion]

I thought it at the time and even more so after watching this, that Peter Coe thought that Ovett was just a ragarse from Brighton and not fit to breath the same air as his boy !

[@deano27671]

Disagree. Watch Coe’s documentary or read Coe’s biography from 1991, and you will notice how highly he respected Ovett’s ability.

[@klnine]

This was the time when the press was being taken over by the DS

[@garymanders1273]

Gold medals are great...but Coe to be the fastest man over 800m in history for 16 years was special...several Olympic champs in that time but no one ran that fast...for me those are the Special athletes who can couple Championships wins with extraordinary times...Coe is up there with El Geroujj, Bekele distance running, Edwards triple jump alongside..other greats before them and since

[@deano27671]

Totally agree. He was world record holder over 800m from 79 to 97! And 42 years after his 2nd WR, he is still the 3rd fastest in history. Over 1000m he is the 2nd fastest ever, with only 1 man running just 0.22secs faster at the height of the EPO era.

[@markpatterson2764]

Ovett had won an unbelievable 45 straight 1500 m races prior to his loss in Moscow where he was clearly drained running slower in the final than he did in his heat.I believe given advances in diet and training techniques Ovett would have swept passed anyone including Coe and El Geroujj on the final bend of a single 1500m race

[@joetursi9573]

These poor guys didn't make a dime from running.

[@bronxcheer1484]

Find an orthodontist

[@4cwink]

Beautiful 😍 ❤ 😘

[@georgenedelkoffnedelkoffu833]

Tha Greeks stopped war-s for the Olympics, why should you deny your athletes the right to beat Russian athletes !

[@stewartwest347]

Seb Coe "....I remember most coaches reaching for their tranquilizers"... Especially Seb Coe's tie looks awful :)

[@mabihinafff942]

لسانك حصانك ان صنته صانك وان خنته خانك ٠٠٠ القطب الجنوبي المتجمد

[@pigslefats]

Coe the world record holder didn't have the guts to go for it from the gun. Unlike Rudisha.

[@RichardIILionheart]

That strikes me as more than a little harsh. Different runners, different body types, different strategies. A 400/800 runner (Rudisha) and an 800/1500 runner (Coe).

[@tobyharling719]

Probably because that strategy cost him in the 1978 European final. However, he should have gone at 400m, as we all know.

[@RichardIILionheart]

@@tobyharling719 As I looked at the 1980 OG 800 replay just now, two things stood out. First is that Ovett, despite winning, nearly ran himself into disqualification early, left himself blocked and boxed a couple of times, and was on a knife’s edge until he finally broke free down the home straight. Second, Coe’s tactics were, let’s be charitable, far less than optimal: he ran outside the entire race and added several meters of running as a result; let the race get away from 300 to 500 when he failed to get into good position at the bell, then failed to match the others’ acceleration around the curve. Not even someone as fast as Coe could expect to take nearly 10 meters out of Ovett over the last 150. I do not have immediate access to any detailed splits for this race, but it would be very interesting to know 100 splits for each runner. How far behind Ovett was Coe with 200, then 100 to run? Who ran fastest from 500 to 600?

[@dendemano]

It’s okay to get all moralistic about our participation, when you haven’t dedicated your entire life to achieving your goals and dreams, especially when Russia is a country that doesn’t have any real regard for a lame, limp wristed, throw your teddies out of the pram. I’m sure that Thatcher could have devised a more suitable and fitting alternative to show those pesky Russians whose boss! Of course, it would need to have a detrimental impact on her life. I’m guessing it will be sufficient sacrifice, and result in a lifetime of hard work and dedication to go up in flames and count for nothing. I don’t think that it’s going to be on any upcoming agenda. It’s so easy to ask others to make sacrifices in order to placate your own moral obligations.

[@laveritaforza108]

Fixed.

[@RH-xf4vf]

Peter and Sebastian ... typical tories i.e. unpleasant. Steve's attitude to the media was very funny. Bravo him.

[@deano27671]

Which just goes to show how much you know! Peter Coe was a paid up member of the Communist Party in the '30's and later in his life was a trade unionist and Labour supporter. I have never voted Tory myself, but to judge people in such black and white terms based on their perceived political affiliations is somewhat narrow minded.

[@sunnydays5581]

boycotting the Olympics because of Afghanistan. My, we've come along way

[@luckyapple2655]

Ovett a good winner. Coe a bad looser.

[@deano27671]

Disagree. The pressure and expectation on Coe to win the 800 was probably greater than any T&F athlete has ever experienced. There was no pressure on Ovett for the first race because no one expected him to win. Ovett had also already been to an Olympics (Montreal 76) where he underperformed. This was Coe’s first Olympics. His reaction of despondency at the end of the race is totally understandable. You don’t train 2 x a day for 10 years to come second, when you are that much faster than the rest of the world. His reaction was no different to hundreds of athletes in that position over the years. He shook Ovett’s hand on the podium, spoke to him and smiled for photos. What more would you want him to do? Ovett could afford to be a more gracious loser after the 1500, because he’d already won his gold. You don’t have to like Coe, but he was hardly a bad loser.

[@deano27671]

@@markjex9035 no, that’s not true. The fastest doesn’t always win due to a variety of reasons. The 800m is probably the hardest distance to get right tactically and can come down to some luck. In terms of their ability to cover the 800m distance in the fastest time possible, Coe was 1.7 secs faster going in to Moscow.

[@deano27671]

@@markjex9035 you need to check your facts mate. Ovett won 45 (not 63) consecutive races over 1500m and 1 mile, UNTIL he met Coe over that distance in the Moscow final. Coe won with the fastest last 100m in any championship 1500m ever. Ovett was beaten at least once over his best distances (800 up to 1 mile) in 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82 and 83. Coe only lost 2 races (both in 80) between September 78 and September 82. He was unbeaten in 79 and 81. He also remained unbeaten over 1500 and 1 mile from 76 to 83.