“I JUST COULD NOT AFFORD TO LOSE”
SEB COE’S FIRST OLYMPIC GOLD CAME IN MOSCOW BUT NOT IN THE RACE HE WAS EXPECTED TO WIN. JASON HENDERSON LOOKS AT THE TRULY UNFORGETTABLE RIVALRY WITH STEVE OVETT AND HOW THE PRESSURE REACHED BOILING POINT FOR BOTH
The release of emotion is clear to see as Seb Coe claims 1500m gold at the Moscow Olympics
PICTURES: MARK SHEARMAN
AS KIRK DUMPLETON sped to gold at the English Schools Cross Country Championships at Hillingdon in 1972, who could have imagined that the two boys who finished back in second and tenth place would go on to create the greatest head-to-head rivalry in the history of athletics eight years later in Moscow?
As the 16-year-old Dumpleton strode to victory, Steve Ovett finished almost half a minute behind, while Sebastian Coe was a further half a minute back. Yet the defeated duo would ultimately mature into the world’s premier middle-distance men with a double clash in Moscow that produced one of the most eagerly-awaited match-ups ever seen at the Olympics.
Coe first appeared in the pages of AW when winning the colts’ title at the Yorkshire Cross Country Championships in February 1971. By the summer of 1973, he was an English Schools champion, taking the inter boys’ 3000m title in 8:40.2 on the same Bebington cinder track that would later be used to portray the Stade Olympique de Colombes in Chariots of Fire.