More time has passed between when Coe was running as Seb Coe and now, as had passed when Bannister ran the first recognized sub-4 and Coe was Seb Coe. Think about that a moment. They weren't running on dirt in what were basically leather sprint spikes with people standing in lane 2 in the 80s, and track today isn't exactly the same game it was in 1981, or 84, or 87.
Track changed a lot between 1954 and 1984. Why can't it also change between 1984 and 2019?
Last I checked, sports have been born and are nearly dead since 1954, tracks/shoes/nutrition/training/drugs/humans have changed since 1984, and the world is both a bigger and smaller place at the same time. It all boils down to money, and that comes from eyes, and eyes have a lot more to look at these days than even twenty years ago, or even ten.
It seems like the opposition to these changes we're seeing come from those of us who remember Coe as Coe, or even Bannister from 54, and don't like to see anything different - which might be why we have Dwight Stones talking to us on TV.
But we also have complaints from those young and still competitive in T&F, likely because it's become quite cushy in the US to be involved in that. There's just not much competition, really.
This is no longer Mulberry, guys.