Quotes by Sebastian Coe

About Sebastian Coe:

Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including the 1500 metres gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984. He set eight outdoor and three indoor world records in middle-distance track events – including, in 1979, setting three world records in the space of 41 days – and the world record he set in the 800 metres in 1981 remained unbroken until 1997. Coe's rivalries with fellow Britons Steve Ovett and Steve Cram dominated middle-distance racing for much of the 1980s.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I started daily training at the age of 14. When I was 16 years old, I was running twice a day.

Sebastian Coe

During my first Olympics in 1980, at the age of 23, I was physically in great condition but mentally too inexperienced to cope comfortably in the pressure cooker of an Olympic year.

Sebastian Coe

The London Games will be designed for the athletes and we will provide them with the very best venues and the very best conditions to pursue their sporting dreams in London.

Sebastian Coe

I will go to my grave believing that participation is best driven by the well-stocked shop window.

Sebastian Coe

World records are only borrowed.

Sebastian Coe

All pressure is self-inflicted. It's what you make of it or how you let it rub off on you.

Sebastian Coe

There may be problems we still need to tease out, but we will leave no stone unturned in our bid to make London the host city.

Sebastian Coe

We need to be confident. We need not to blink.

Sebastian Coe

I can be a bit impatient sometimes. If I'm really focusing on something, I can expect everybody to move at the same pace, and that's probably not massively endearing.

Sebastian Coe

I'm a Chelsea season-ticket holder, and I've supported them for 37 years, so any judgment of Manchester United by me is seen as biased.

Sebastian Coe

I'm not sure there are enough coaches in the system that can take young talent and consistently get them into the top five in the world.

Sebastian Coe

The biggest fragility in a project is often just the inability to be able to explain to people why you are doing it, and when you're going to do it, and what's going to happen.

Sebastian Coe

The characteristic shared by people at the top of their profession is that, to get better, they crave criticism. Most people don't like criticism, but if you are trying to shave two tenths of a second at 800 metres, that is what you crave.

Sebastian Coe

At university level, I had an economics lecturer who used to joke that I was the only student who handed in essays on British Airways notepaper.

Sebastian Coe

I wouldn't have raced a horse. But you'll then throw back at me that Jesse Owens raced against a horse, and he's one of my heroes, so I'm not going to say it was a silly stunt. I know too much about horses. They're highly unreliable, and they've got ...

Sebastian Coe

Football was not what I was put on this planet to do.

Sebastian Coe

I can remember the day I decided I would retire from competitive athletics as vividly as if it were yesterday.

Sebastian Coe

I joined the local athletics club when I was 12, that's what I did. I did it of my own volition.

Sebastian Coe

Charlie Parker was a genius, as was Lester Young.

Sebastian Coe

Marathons don't come to you overnight.

Sebastian Coe

Author Bio

  • NameSebastian Coe
  • DescriptionBritish athlete and politician
  • AliasesSebastian Newbold Coe,; Seb Coe,; Baron Coe; Lord Coe
  • BornSeptember 29, 1956
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionSportsperson; Politician; Middle-distance Runner; Autobiographer
  • AwardsKnight Commander Of The Order Of The British Empire; Order Of The Companions Of Honour; Princess Of Asturias Award For Sports; Olympic Order; Bislett Medal