Dustin Hoffman wrote:
Then in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow Ovett simply blew the field away including Coe in a relatively tactical 800m final - who cares about times ? Not bad for someone who finished fith in his national cross country championships in the late 70's. Ovett had an amazing range of ability.
They were both great runners - can't we leave it that ? I guess not.
Interesting that two people cited Ovett beating Coe in Moscow and neither mentioned Coe beating Ovett in Moscow.
Coe being the only person to go BTB in the 1500 plus his stratospheric 800m record probably had the better career. I think Coe can be brought into the argument as to who the best 800/1500 guy ever is (which is really what the discussion should be about). I don't think Ovett's in that discussion.