‘THE DAYS WHEN OVETT AND COE RULED THE WORLD’

Part THREE: 1981 - Year of change

This was a big year. No argument there. It was the year of riots in British cities. Of Ronald Reagan being inaugurated U.S. president. That Pope John Paul II had an assassination attempt. There was IRA hunger strikers in prison. The cold war was still going strong. Adam and the Ants were top of the charts and Elvis was still having hit singles despite being dead for 4 years by this point. Liverpool FC were the champions of Europe and Ian Botham...Headingly...the Ashes. What can I add to that?

Personally, I was to experience some highs and lows that would stay with me for a while, and I was going to be starting the big school in the September, (Montgomery High). Still at least I knew that I had athletics to fall back on. I loved watching and I was getting, (reasonably), good at it. I could run. I had an explosive turn of speed and I had stamina (This was 27 years ago, so you need to use your imagination somewhat these days!), however I had no race pace. Kids seemed reluctant to jog around for 1100m to allow me use my 'kick' to any demonstrable effect (Darn the luck...). Still I enjoyed running, and loved trying to do my best in every race I ran. My passion for athletics was growing and I was becoming more versed in cross country running, indoor events, women’s athletics and field events. The wait for the next instalment of the Ovett and Coe saga would be long one, but I naïvely had no reason to suspect otherwise. This was a year when the two Brits took on the World, took on the clock and conquered all. It was a year when the pack stepped up to plate (to use an American euphemism).

I present you with the all-time lists for 800m, 1000m, 1500m and the Mile, (as of the 1st of January 1981).

Note: I did not have these lists at the time. That would not happen until, (circa), 1983.However, far be it for me to deprive anyone else though in this trip down memory-lane:

800m

1:42.33 S. Coe GBR 05/07/79 Oslo

(plus 1:43.97 15/09/78)

1:43.4 R. Wohlhuter USA 08/06/74 Eugene

(plus 1:43.9 27/05/73; 1:43.9 22/06/74; 1:43.91 18/07/74;

1:44.03 06/07/74)

1:43.44 A. Juantorena CUB 21/08/77 Sofia

(plus 1:43.50 25/07/76; 1:43.64 24/08/77; 1:43.66 19/06/77 19/06/77; 1:44.04 02/09/77)

1:43.57 M. Boit KEN 20/08/76 Zürich

(Plus 1:43.79 20/08/75; 1:43.90 18/08/76)

1:43.7 M. Fiasconaro ITA 27/06/73 Milano

1:43.84 O. Beyer GDR 31/08/78 Praha

1:43.86 I. Van Damme BEL 25/07/76 Montréal

(Plus 1:44.02 18/08/76)

1:43.9 J. Marajo FRA 12/09/79 St. Maur

1:43.91 J. Kipkurgat KEN 29/01/74 Christchurch

1:44.07 L. Susanj YUG/CRO 04/09/74 Roma

1000m

2:13.40 S. Coe GBR 01/07/80 Oslo

2:13.9 R. Wohlhuter USA 30/07/74 Oslo

2:14.53 W. Wülbeck FRG 01/07/80 Oslo

2:15.3 M. Boit KEN 23/09/77 Wattenschied

(plus 2:15.98 20/08/78; 2:16.25 06/09/79)

2:15.5 I. Van Damme BEL 14/07/76 Namur

2:15.91 S. Ovett GBR 06/09/79 Koblenz

2:16.0 D. Malan RSA 24/06/73 München

2:16.2 J. May GDR 20/07/65 Erfurt

2:16.2 F-J. Kemper FRG 21/09/66 Hannover

2:16.25 J. Mania Boi KEN 06/09/79 Koblenz

1500m

3:31.36 S. Ovett GBR 27/08/80 Koblenz

(plus 3:32.09 15/07/80; 3:32.11 04/09/79; 3:32.7 01/07/80)

3:31.58 T. Wessinghage FRG 27/08/80 Koblenz

(plus 3:33.16 15/07/80)

3:31.96 H. Hudak FRG 27/08/08 Koblenz)

3:32.03 S. Coe GBR 15/08/79 Zürich)

(plus 3:32.19 13/08/80; 3:32.8 17/07/79)

3:32.16 F. Bayi TAN 02/02/74 Christchurch)

3:32.4 J. Walker NZL 30/07/75 Oslo)

(plus 3:32.52 02/02/74; 3:32.72 16/08/77; 3:33.31 15/07/80; 3:33.49 13/08/80)

3:33.1 J. Ryun USA 08/07/67 Los Angeles)

3:33.16 B. Jipcho KEN 02/02/74 Christchurch)

3:33.33 S. Scott USA 13/08/80 Zürich)

3:33.69 J. Straub GDR 31/08/79 Potsdam

1 Mile

3:48.8 S. Ovett GBR 01/07/80 Oslo

(Plus 3:49.57 31/08/79; 3:51.56 22/08/80)

3:48.95 S. Coe GBR 17/07/79 Oslo

3:49.4 J. Walker NZL 12/08/75 Göteborg

(Plus 3:52.0 11/07/77; 3:52.24 30/06/75)

3:50.56 T. Wessinghage FRG 31/08/79 London

(Plus 3:52.50 03/07/78)

3:51.0 F. Bayi TAN 17/05/75 Kingston

3:51.1 J. Ryun USA 23/06/67 Berkeley

(Plus 3:51.3 17/07/66)

3:51.11 S. Scott USA 17/07/79 Oslo

3:52.02 C. Masback USA 17/07/79 Oslo

3:52.17 B. Jipcho KEN 02/07/73 Stockholm

3:52.2 M. Liquori USA 17/05/75 Kingston

3:52.45 E.Coghlan IRL 17/07/79 Oslo

This should come in handy to give a better perspective of what would happen for the next few years to come in this tale.

Ovett had had a quiet, uneventful build up to the summer: Some road wins in April and May, before he travelled to the troubled UK Championships that were being held in Antrim, (Northern Ireland). A few stars had pulled out, fearing some possible terrorist action. (It was a fear, and to be honest there was a constant air of something that could happen. The championships went without any glitch-except the low number of athletes that turned up). Ovett won. With a canter, he beat yesteryear's Frank Clement, and a future star, Jack Buckner. He won at the 'Palace, Gateshead and Venézia. He travelled to Oslo on the 26th of June for a 1500m race. In the race was assembled most of the best runners in the world for a record attempt. The race was bizarre. More of that later...

Seb Coe had a brief indoor season. Two races, two wins. National 3000m champion. He followed this with a race in the British v. East German international on the 11th of February. This was Coe at his imperious best. In his 1st 800m race sine losing to Don Paige in August '80, (and don't get me started about Don Paige. I go off on enough tangents as it is!) Coe went through 400m in about 52:3 and then pulled away from two Moscow finalists-Busse and Wagenknecht as if they weren't...well...indoor specialists. Seb clocked 1:46.0. It was a world indoor record and a win by over a second. He spent May running for Loughborough, (his College) mostly in sprints and relays. (He lost- at the 200m! He did run 22:6) and won the Yorkshire 800m title in a 1:46.5. He ran at the 'Palace’ and ran an excellent 1:44.06, (plus 45.7 relay leg).

He made a trip to Italy, Firenze to be precise. Long story: short. Coe ran one his greatest ever races. Short story: long: on the 10th of June he made a record attempt to break his own 1:42.33. An early pacemaker, (Billy Konchellah), ran 24:4 for 200m and 49:7 for 400m, (Coe 49:9). The young Kenyan flagged and Coe took off, (again), with only the clock for company. At 600m Seb went past in 1:15.0. He finished with a 26:7 last 200m, which gave him a 1:41.73 finishing time. He was 6 tenths of a second fastest that his previous world record. He won by 5.7 seconds from Dragan Zivotič, (a survivor from the Praha '78 final where Coe ran himself and Ovett into the ground)! In case anyone is wondering, Billy Konchellah went on to win two World 800m titles, (1987 and 1991), and currently has a son who is amongst the top 800m in the world, (how old do I feel ?!?!) It was classic Coe: free-flowing, head up and never looking behind him, with just open track ahead of him. Between then and the 7th of July, Coe would race once, (on the 5th at the Europa Cup).

Now back to Ovett.

Steve went to Oslo on the 26th of June to attack his 1500m world record. It had most of the usual suspects, (obviously no Seb), and pacemakers. First-up an 'obscure’ Ethiopian, Wodajo Bulti, who took the early pace duties, he covered the first circuit in 3:35.7 pace, (or a 57.52 time), and then gradually drifted down the field as the race went on, (Bulti, on a final note, would become in 1982 the 3rd fastest 5000m runner ever with a 13:07.29 clocking. So his pacemaking days were soon to be behind him).

Tom Byers, (a former 1500m talent from the mid-70s), had become a favourite for meet promoters as a pace-maker. He had good pace judgement and he had great stamina, (he was by the time of June the 5th fastest 1500m runner in the world with a 3:36.35). None of that I knew then as he took the lead and went past 800m in 1:54.83. The pack were 50m behind, too busy watching themselves and, (as it turned out convinced the pace was too fast for Byers to last). They were told that their 800m time was 1:54/1:55, which gave them all the impression they were doing well at such a pace and cementing the view that Byers would die). With a lap to go Byers was 70m clear. I remember the sense of panic in the commentator's voice and even in the demeanour of the runners behind that something was awry. Past the 1200m mark in 2:53.09 Byers kept going...it was clear there was a race to win and it had nothing to do with him that the others hadn't gone with him. The pack were accelerating en masse and entering the home stretch he had over 25 yards to play him. He needed most of it. Byers won in 3:39.01 and collapsed in agony. Ovett won the race for a second. The photo of him with a big smile on his face at the sheer lunacy/bizarre nature of the race put it all in perspective. Ovett finished with a 52:3 last lap. For the record Byers beat Ovett, Steve Scott, José-Luis González, Steve Cram, Todd Harbour, Richie Harris, Thomas Wessinghage, Wilhelm Wülbeck, John Walker and Harald Hudak in that order. Byers' pace-making days were numbered as well, but just not yet!

After both Coe and Ovett had triumphed for their country in the Europa Cup semi finals, (Coe the 800m-1:47.57; Ovett the 1500m-3:46.47), their rivalry went to another level. On the 7^th of July, Seb ran in Stockholm at the 1500m. This was similar to Coe’s win at Zürich from ’79-suicidal early pace with Coe on his own from a long way out. James Robinson, a highly successful 800m runner went through 400m in 52:43; by 800m the pace was 1:49.18. Inevitably, Coe would die and he did. A 59:14 3^rd lap and then a final 300m ran in 43:67 would give Coe a time of 3:31.95! It was a personal best and the 3^rd fastest time ever. It was a new Yorkshire record, but that was all. Steve Scott finished a distant 2^nd. One day later, (the 8^th of July), Ovett was in Italy racing at Milano. The pace was slower, (55.17, 1:52.68 and 2:52.10). Walker led at 1200m before Ovett kicked for home. Ovett’s last 300m was run in 39:85. Incredibly, the end time was 3:31.95! This was two different ways to run the same time, (the equal 3^rd fastest ever). Ovett went to Oslo for the Dream mile. Coe was also at Oslo; however he would run the 1000m. It was another world record. Without sounding too dismissive, Coe had now set 6 world records, more than any other British athlete ever. He went through 400m in 51:3 and then the 800m time in 1:44.6! That alone would have won the Olympic title just a year earlier by nearly a second, and only Coe and Mike Boit had ran quicker all year, (1981). Seb still had 200m to go when the lactic acid would take hold. Coe clocked a 2:12.18: 1.2 seconds faster than ever before. Ovett had to follow that, and in a way he did. The mile was fast (56.7 440yds, 1:55.2, 2:53.4), on par with Coe’s 3:49.85 and Ovett’s 3:49.57 pace. Ovett had company: Wessinghage surged onto Ovett’s shoulder some 250m out and Ovett took off like a frightened antelope. It was as near as anyone would get to him until the finish. Ovett won in 3:49.25, 3^rd fastest time ever, (again). The 23 year old José Luis González, from Spain, came from nowhere in the home straight to record a 3:49.67 for second. Scott clocked 3:49.68, (finally annexing Jim Ryun’s 14 year old American record), Walker was fourth in 3:50.26, (fastest time in 7 years for the former world record holder), the highly promising Todd Harbour and Steve Cram was just behind, (3:50.34 to 3:50.38 respectively), in massive pb’s Wessinghage finished in 3:50.91 for 7^th. John Robson found a 3:52.44 p.b good enough for 8^th and Eamonn Coghlan 9^th in 3:56.50. Coghlan would never be the same miler again. Seven men under 3:51.00! Thomas Wessinghage was now just the 8^th fastest miler ever, (from 4^th). John Walker was quoted as saying that that was the ‘greatest mile ever run’ with the adjoiner that he should know ‘I seem to have run in most of them!’

Seb Coe would spend the next five weeks racing in ‘smaller’ meets and at never more than 1000m in distance. He won them all, including the AAA 800m title.

Ovett carried on. That Steve Ovett won the mile in Lausanne in 3:49.66 with nine more men under the time of 3:55.00, and that this is merely a side-note, says a lot of how the event was moving on in regards world expectations. By the end of July, ITV went to Budapest to cover the Budapest meeting and the next instalment in this fascinating duel being displayed on the tracks of Europa. Ovett won again and at 1500m. He went past 1200m in 2:50.7 and launched his kick. He won in 3:31.57 - the second fastest time ever- and winning by over 3 seconds. He would require urgent dental treatment soon after that would require missing the Europa Cup final and curtail his racing for some 3 weeks, (Ovett’s stand-in, a certain Steve Cram, filled in suitably. He won. I shall talk more about Cram in a later part).

Coe was at Zagreb for the Cup and won the 800m in a slow but thrilling fashion, defeating both Beyer and Wülbeck, (both nemeses down the years). It was turning into a great summer holiday, except around this time my grandfather passed away (7^th of August). I think a became more introverted as a result of this and my imminent commencing of high school, but athletics had become a security blanket, (a safety net), for me at this time. I think, looking back, that Ovett and Coe and their ‘clashes’ gave me some respite.

On the 19^th of August Seb Coe went to Zürich to attack Ovett’s mile record. It was an enthralling race, with races within races going on throughout. Byers returned to pace making, (with 56.13 440yds, 1:53.59), and was ahead of schedule, but Byers began to tire, suffering from a bad head cold, and Coe had to take over on lap 3. The pace dropped to 0.7 seconds behind Ovett’s pace, with only Boit and Cram anywhere close to him. However, Coe had kept something for later and was able to hold his form in the last stretch to clock a 3:48.53, a 7^th World record. Boit ran 3:49.74 for an African record and breaking his 1975 personal best of 3:54.88. Cram joined the sub 3:50 brigade with a resolute 3:49.95. Walker got a 3:50.12, (getting faster for the 29 year old). He was now just 0.72 of a second off his own old record. Wessinghage ran his 3^rd sub 3:51 time with a 3:50.95. Scott had one of his disappointing runs, (8^th in 3:53.98). Coghlan was winning the 5000m at the same Weltklasse meet.

Ovett ran the West Berlin, (ISTAF), mile two days later and came nowhere near, (3:55 and bits), before he went to Koblenz on the 26^th of August. He ran a strangely sterile race, (meaning I got no thrill from this race other than the record, but that’s just my opinion). Bob Benn and James Robinson had the pace duties, (55.63 400m, 1:53.59 800m), while Ovett leading at 1200m in 2:50.62. He was only a stride ahead of Coe’s pace as it would turn out. Less than a minute later Ovett crossed the line an exhausted new World record holder with a 3:48.40, (only 0.13 faster, but a record is a record). Masback and Byers finished in the 3:54-3:56 region. I think I was disappointed that the race lacked any sense of drama: no Scott, Walker nor Wessinghage to challenge. No Cram, Coghlan nor Boit. It was a race only in the sense of breaking a record and not to take on the best. I felt (I wouldn’t say ‘cheated, but 27 years later I still feel the same frustration) empty.

On Friday the 28^th of August Blackpool Illuminations were being switched on. For the first year ever I asked if I didn’t go to watch them. Seb Coe was running the Golden mile that night. At Bruxelles I might add. My mum gave me the same look that some of you probably had a moment earlier. It was the 5^th Ivo Van Damme Memorial meeting, at the historic, (and now tragic), Heysel stadium. Van Damme had been a double Olympic silver medallist in 1976. He broke the European 1000m record. Much has been written about him, most of it refers to his fatal car crash in December of 1976 aged just 22. John Walker said he felt that Ivo would have been the best miler of the lot of them had he had the time. To paraphrase Walker, he should know as he had run against most of them. Bruxelles has held the memorial meet ever since 1977 and fittingly it is regularly one of the world’s best invitation meet over the years.

Coe was in Bruxelles to improve his own performance from nine days earlier. The fact that Ovett had clipped his record was not a major deal; Seb had his own unfinished business: to run a mile so fast that he knew he had given his all. That Friday was as good as it got. Byers was the slowest starters, (at 3:55.73 for the mile by now), again was Coe preferred pacemaker and he did a sterling job: 54.92 at 400m, 1:52.67 at 800m and then Coe ran into the back of Byers, clipped his heal and then got back into his running. With Byers fading Coe took over with 500m to go and with Mike Boit some two strides behind him, through the 1200m line in 2:51.0 was now running better than ever, Coe was without peers that night. He went past 1500m in Veja-o em sua manhã da casa amanhã.and took off! I’d never seen Coe run like that at a 1500m/Mile, (except once at Moscow in 1980, but that was a different sort of race), but this was sustained for four laps. He ran a 3:47.33. Coe had run 3 mile races since 1978 and had broke world records in all three of them. Talk about a good average. Boit ran a new African record in 3:49.45, it was said that Boit had the perfect pacemaker in Seb Coe and in a way, he was.

Mike Boit, 32, was an Olympic bronze medallist from München 1972 at 800m, Commonwealth silver from 1974, deprived of a chance of Olympic glory in ’76 by the African boycott, (and maybe Juantorena as awe, had Boit made it there), World Cup second in 1977 and Commonwealth gold from Edmonton in 1978. There’s a bizarre connection between Coe and Boit. When Coe ran his first world record, (Oslo-1979-800m), Boit was the world number one 800m runner, the most prolific sub 1:45 runner in the world and he completely burnt by Coe. He died a death in the last 200m as he tried to keep up with a ‘young Turk’ like Seb Coe. Boit a reluctant miler from years back, (albeit talented), knew he either had to move up in distance or move out, so to speak. By 1981 in Coe’s last two world records it was Boit chasing Coe home and looking like a new runner. I thought I would share that with you.

Coe would race just once. An 800m win at the IAAF world Cup in Roma. Ovett would win his second 1500m world cup in style and Eamonn Coghlan would complete the European team hat-trick of wins by capturing the 5000m crown, (after some mid-race scares). Ovett stayed in Italy to run the mile. It was not really a record attempt, but then again you can’t rule anything out in sport. In the end Ovett lost for the second and the last time in 1981, and his first mile defeat since 1975. He lost to Sydney Maree; I was shocked as I had only barely heard of him. Maree ran a 3:38.83 to Ovett’s 3:50.23 and all I ever saw of this race was the bit on the news of the last 30 yards or so. Apparently, Maree just outgunned Ovett in the final straight, a bit like Beyer did in 1978. A bit like daylight robbery, if you ask me. Maree will get to play a further role in Ovett’s career in Part 4 of this story.

Steve Ovett got married to girlfriend Rachel (of the I-L-Y signs from Moscow 1980) in the Autumn.

Both Ovett and Coe had transcended their sport. They were up there with ‘Skeet’ Nehemiah, Ed Moses, Daley Thompson and Carl Lewis. They were up there with Niki Lauda, Barry Sheene, Bobby Charlton, Jack Niklaus, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, and, (almost), Mohammed Ali…well, Sugar Ray Leonard at the very least. So much so, that US TV demanded a showdown and were willing to pay for it and with the loosening of the once rigid amateur restrictions, Coe and Ovett signed a contract to race each other three times in 1982, (at 800, mile and 3000m).

Then in December of 1981, Steve Ovett ran into a church railing whilst on a training run and punctured a muscle above his knee.

With news like that 1982 wasn’t going to look very good at all.

Written by: Tom Hurst

Submitted: 3^rd September 2008

Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR Editor