How He Trained: Steve Ovett

I must disagree. Maybe the best DISTANCE runner. But the best RUNNER is without a doubt Seb Coe. Hands down. Thanks.

El Hombre wrote:

I think you're thinking of Billy Mills. There's some quote where he let his daughter bring the gold medal to show and tell, and to describe to her class how important it was, she said something like "This is just like the one Peggy Fleming won"

Nope, I am aware of that story (and thanks, it still makes me chuckle).

But the quote I'm thinking of is different and I'm positive it was from Steve Ovett. It's annoying me that I can't remember it or find it.

Bazza posted the quote you are looking for... something about his boy coming home announcing there was a new kid in class who's father had once run in the Olympics and Ovett replying "whoa... that's cool!"

or something...

Here you go!

Can't remeber where I first found this story, but I saved it anyway...

You gotta love this story about Great Britain's Steve Ovett, former world record holder in the 1500 meters and mile as well as the 800-meter gold medalist in the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Seems that Ovett's 8-year-old daughter, Alexandra, came home from school the other day with a perplexed look on her face and a question on her lips. "Daddy, one of the girls in my class says you won an Olympic gold medal. That's not right, is it?"

Ovett had to sit her down for a gentle heart-to-heart. "She was in a state of shock afterwards," he says. "Mind you, all of them [he has three other younger children] have spent enough time running around with my Olympic medals on." It's just that Ovett and his wife never explained the significance of the toys.

Nor have his kids ever seen any videos of Ovett's glory days. "Honestly, I literally don't have a single video of any of my races. Why should I? I don't see the point in looking back. I'm a positive person. Our sport needs that now."

You may like to know that there is a new book coming out at the end of the year about the Coe/Ovett thing. Word on the street is that it's pretty good with lots of interesting revelations.

The thing about Ovett is that he was (is) very a "runner's runner". Coe achieved more but Ovett was always the more popular, especially among other runners. He was immensely talented and trainied like a demon, but the whole devil-may-care attitude was very endearing. As mentioned earlier, can you imagine any other top 800m runner waking up one morning and deciding to run a 1/2m just for fun - on the hottest day of the year.

Ovett's range was incredible. His win in the 86 the Commonwealth 5000m is under-rated. Remember, he finished ahead of two of the best British distance runners of the 80s - 13:10 man Jack Buckner who later that yeat won the Europeans and the next season took bronze in the World Champs plus Tim Hutchings, a 13:11 runner who took bronze in the Europeans behind Buckner, was 4th in the 84 Olympics and was 2nd in the 89 World Cross. Despite Ovett's many records he mainly ran to win. I reckon if the WR in the 1500m/mile had been as fast back then as it was now he would still have challenged them. Top bloke.

Ovett was just magic, if he was running in a meeting then there was twenty times the atmosphere than if Coe was running. He just had a warmth about him that the fans loved, he was a very nice guy, and I think a lot of people saw a very sensitive side to him when the whole furore blew up about the Andy Norman issue wheer he was fiddling payment to athleets at national champs. Norman was later implicated in the death of Cliff Temple, Norman was a nasty piece of work, sorry to see him back involved in athletics.

I think the choices made by hima nd Coe in later life show the difference in their character, Coe ran for parliament and failed to retain his seat! Ovett retired into relative anonymity and went fishing and jogging and brought up his family. Coe stayed in the public eye as a tory adviser. I think the big difference was Ovett was like the Alf tupper of athletics, hugely taleted and one of the boys, Coe was like a laboratory rat using all of the latest scinetific research at louborough, whilst Coe was in the lab Ovett was provbably in the pub.

There was a good BBC documentary in the 80's about their rivalry.

My lasting memory of Steve Ovett is not one of his triumphs, but it was his valiant effort at the 1984 LA Olympics. I understand that he was sick as a dog and many others in his position would have sat the games out. He struggled through all the rounds of his races, but he showed up for work and gave it his best shot. He'd made a commitment and was going to see it through, for reasons only known to himself.

Bump to knock Galloway off front page

Steve's main problem was that the press didn't like him because he didn't give them the deference that they felt they deserved! He was very much his own man and wouldn't suck up to anyone. As proved by his later career Seb. was much more of a politician and would always give the press their pound of flesh!

Fullem - I admire your curiousity but to think thatPaige would have challenged Coe or Ovett in 1980 is as ridiculous as a Brit now saying that Chambers is better than Greene over 100m .

A win over a tired athlete in an unimportant race (Paige over Coe in 80 / Chambers over Greene in 2002) can in no way compare to a major championship scenario.

Bump to knock Galloway off front page for the SECOND TIME!

bump

Hey Phil, whaddabout the '84 1500 when Seb gave the press box the finger? Perhaps this was simply British sign language for 'I love you'?

The other book to look for by his coach. Running My Way by Harry Wilson. They were good friends as well. From what I heard Steve was by his side when he passed away a few years ago.

Creepy Gus wrote:

Hey Phil, whaddabout the '84 1500 when Seb gave the press box the finger? Perhaps this was simply British sign language for 'I love you'?

He didn't "give the press box the finger". At least not the finger you're thinking of. He raised both his index fingers and pointed at the press box. They had written him off completely only a few months earlier and here he was, the gold medalist in the 1500 (and silver in the 800)

Exactly, so that is not quite like being a kiss-ass to the press as some seem to suggest here. OK, maybe Ovett was more down to earth, I don't know, I have heard good things about both of them as people. And I am also sure each has his skeletons.

Anyway, it appears we have some Ovett fans, who think he was a hell of a bloke, and a good chap, and a guy you wouldn't mind tipping back a few pints with.

And that is all well and good, but how about be put all that aside for a moment and look at some facts on who was the best runner in their main events, the 800 & 1500, shall we? It was Coe. He ended up with the faster times, the 800, 1000, 1500, & mile. He ended up with more Olympic medals/more golds. So....who was better? That's right, Coe (not by a lot, but a little).

And it is interesting, because people always have these mileage debates, and often cite Ovett as a runner who thrived on high mileage. Well, I don't know when he started that higher mileage exactly (it appears to be later in life), but what IS clear from the links posted, is that Ovett was an immensely talented athlete with LOTS of speed & speed training. It appears that he ran a 53 400 as a 13 year-old, 1:45 as a 18 year old to set Euro Jr record (& also ran 47 for the open 400. Did Coe, the supposed speed-demon, ever break 47 for an open 400 over his career?? I don?t think so), and a 4 minute mile at age 17. He also set ?set UK age records at the age of 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 over 800m.? The point? He was a prodigy with LOTS of speed (and again, if running plenty of 400?s, speed training). Coe was NOT as successful as Ovett was as a JR(not as fast a 400, 800, or mile), but yet people want to always point to Coe as the incredible talent, and Ovett as the one who willed his success as yet another poster-child for hard-work & high mileage. And they say things like: ?Coe probably could have run even better if he just had the willingness to put in more mileage.? HOGWASH!! As I have shown above, Ovett was as least as talented as Coe (if not more so), with as much natural speed. And they were pretty = over their great careers, BUT?.COE HAD THE EDGE IN THE END, despite Ovett?s higher mileage! Both their training regimens might have been the perfect programs for them, but people attempt to disparage Coe?s more quality-oriented program as only being successful because of his ?natural talent & speed? and that Coe did not maximize his aerobic potential like Ovett did, etc etc etc. Well, Ovett was just as talented & had as much natural speed. So both their programs worked, but people, please don?t act like Ovett was nothing until high mileage, and Coe only beat him due to more talent. It is quite possible that Coe?s more quality-oriented program was the superior program for an 800/1500 runner, which WAS BOTH THEIR MAIN EVENTS.

Final reiteration of my point, I have assigned some arbitrary, relative #?s. But I think they make sense:

1. Coe: Talent/natural speed shown at a young age in 400/800) = 9.5; mileage over his career(for a miler) = 8; success = 10+.

2. Ovett: Talent/natural (at a young age in 400/800) = 10, mileage(for a miler) = 10 success = 10.

So fairly =, but that success # is the most important. And for Coe, it is a 10+, better than Ovett. And it was achieved, in my opinion, but based on the facts of their early successes/times, with slightly less youthful talent, and definitely less mileage.

Ovett raced far more often than Coe. He didn't pick and choose as much as Coe either - although they both 'avoided' each other in a fashion, to build the under the table prize money.

Coe did run 45+ relay legs - I doubt if Ovett ever ran a relay that quick. Any world class runner has incredible talent. Individual differences are silly to argue. One guy may have a bit more speed, but the other has slightly higher lactate tolerance, on and on.

In the end, Steve Cram was probably a more talented miler than either of them. He had the injury bugaboo - he should have had the sheath over his calf muscles operated on a la John Walker. If healthy, I doubt Coe or Ovett were as good over the 1500/mile, no matter what. Everyone talks about Coe overcoming toxoplasmosis - Cram was literally running on one leg in 84 and 88. In 85, head to head, Cram easily ran away from a healthy Coe, setting a WR of 3:46.3, with a 53.2 last 400. His waving his fist at the crowd while coasting the last 25 meters cost him a faster time (I still have the video from the Wide World of Sports). I don't think Coe or Ovett could have finished that fast in such a fast mile, while Cram obviously had two or three seconds faster within his capabilities that night. Coe was sprinting madly to just break 56 when setting his final mile record. Then again, it's all conjecture. But Cram does have his world titles. Ovett has his 800 gold over the heavily favored Coe. Coe has his two golds - but the second coming over an injured Cram and Ovett suffering from bronchitis. It goes round and round.

Ovett remains popular because he came off as one of the guys. He would socialize with the other runners, go out and have a pint. Coe would keep to himself. Ovett seemed to let the chips fall where they may, why Coe would look as if it were the end of the world when something didn't go right. Ovett earned the ire of the the press, when he told TAFNews he didn't care about them, because "... they don't get me up in the morning to run. They don't give a shit if I lose. In fact, they're all the more happy when I do lose ... etc." He was right. Coe's actions toward the press in 84 were more "I told you so" than anything else. He was always very careful with the press.

"Coe fan" has made some very good points. I am a massive Ovett fan, however I think if he had more structured training he would have run quicker.

Coe on the other hand had a very methodic, and indeed scientific approach, to running and training.

It?s a very illuminating to compare Peter Coe's middle distance texts and the fact that Ovett never recorded his training.

However, I don't think Ovett had the personality to undertake the regimented training of Coe. That is a shame as he may have run a lot quicker!

I didn't mean to suggest that Seb. was a kiss-ass but just contrasted him to Steve who would tell the media to go to hell if it suited him. He didn't react very well to being told that he should run in a certain race because 'he owed it to the public', bear in mind this was before the days of professional contracts, although you could have a trust fund which you had to ask permission to withdraw funds from to cover your expenses!

Actually the only national university championship that Coe won while at Loughborough was the UAU 400m in 46.9! That's not to say he didn't run faster while running for his club etc, I recall him running the 200 for his club early in the season.

Regarding distance training Seb. used to run lots of hill work around Sheffield (and Sheffield is a very hilly place).

This is one of the greatest threads ever!

I can't wait to get ahold of that book someone metioned that was coming out soon.

THe more I read it seems pretty apparent that Ovett was one of the greatest talents ever. The question is could a similar personality and approach work at todays level of running. It seems that Coe maximized his talent more, Ovett was less concerned with times, but I wonder if he was a little too undisciplined and unfocused to pull it off today.

Still, his times would even today put him in mdeal contention, and his competitiveness and racing ability might still win against to best.

He's a pretty good announcer too, I have the Canadian broadcast tape of the 5000 where Ovett was loving it when "Bob Kennedy is laying it down to the Kenyans!"