Sebastian Coe: 1984 Olympic 1500m

It remains the most memorable race I've ever seen. I've posted this before, but here it is again anyway:

I was 20 rows up from the track on the last turn.

Coe barely made the British team in '84. He had been hospitalized with toxoplasmosis, a sometimes fatal protozoan infection of the lymph nodes, the previous year and had missed months of training. He could not even begin jogging again until December of '83. He had some poor (for him) showings in the spring and early summer of '84 and was given the last spot on the British team at both 800 and 1500. The British press crucified him (that's a whole other story) and claimed he shouldn't be on the team at all.

He gets Oly silver in the 800 behind Joaquim Cruz, the starts the 1500 heats. I also saw his 1500 heats and thought he looked good.

But no way was I prepared for what happened in the 1500 final.

The athletes came out of the tunnel and were milling around, staying loose and waiting for the start of the 1500. They were on the turn right in front of us. I was taking pictures using a large telephoto lens. Coe happens to casually glance up into the stands just as I trained my camera on him.

What I saw through the viewfinder literally made the hair on the back of neck stand up and sent a chill down my spine. I couldn't even snap the picture I was so startled.

I laid the camera down and turned to my father and said, "They don't even need to run this race."

He asked me why not and I responded, "Look at Coe's eyes."

I have never seen a look like that in anyone's eyes in any circumstances either before or since. It wasn't fire in his eyes, it was a conviction, a look that he somehow was in a different place or had some unique insight. It was a look that was at once both utter peaceful and absolutely violent. I honestly cannot describe that look.

But I'll never forget it. Ever.

Coe ran a tactically perfect race, and shattered the Olympic record in 3:32. Only Morceli in his heat in '96 has ever run faster in Olympic competition, and then only by a couple of tenths. Coe ran faster than El G, Lagat and Ngeny ever did in Olympic competition, and he did it on a hot day doubling back from the 800. He also became the first, and still only, man to ever win the Oly 1500 twice.

Almost immediately after Coe crossed the line, you see him turn to the stands, point with both hands and shout something. Track and Field News later reported that Coe was pointing to the British press box, and what he shouted was, "NOW BELIEVE IN ME!!!"

Here's a link to the race. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KupBT6XdC2c Watch the entire race. You see him point to the stands about 3:30 into the video.

Starting with his near-fatal infection the year before, his brutal treatment by the British press in his fight to even make the team, then the absolutely bone-chilling look in his eyes waiting to go to the line, on through the tactically perfect race, the Oly record, the second 1500 gold and the redemption shouted at the British press box, Coe's race will always be to me the embodiment of everything I have loved about this sport since I was 14.

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