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 still run every other day. Longer at weekends. I probably do 35 miles a week.

Sebastian Coe

My mother was Indian, brought up in Delhi. My grandparents were born in Bow and Poplar.

Sebastian Coe

I'm probably one of the few people who can say I did all three types of state sector schooling.

Sebastian Coe

Interviewing Hugh McIlvanney, I got to read lots of his stuff again. I'm a big fan of his writing.

Sebastian Coe

The Olympics are a world apart from racing for a record. You put out of your mind pretty much what anyone else doing in the race.

Sebastian Coe

We have to recognise there are very few countries you will take the Games to where somebody doesn't have issues on foreign or domestic policy.

Sebastian Coe

To anyone who has started out on a long campaign believing that the gold medal was destined for him, the feeling when, all of a sudden, the medal has gone somewhere else is quite indescribable.

Sebastian Coe

When I moved to Sheffield and went to a secondary modern in the Seventies, there were certain challenges: if you've got a name like Sebastian, you either learn to fight or to run.

Sebastian Coe

When the subsidies are going out there to fund arts, I'd like to see jazz given a better shake of the dice. It attracts as many people as opera does, but not the subsidies.

Sebastian Coe

I don't think I am a workaholic. I prefer to keep busy. It is better than the alternative.

Sebastian Coe

I'm such an odd mix of things. My grandfather was Indian: I've got more family living in India than I do in the U.K. My old man was East London. I was brought up in Yorkshire. My great-grandfather was Irish.

Sebastian Coe

In 1981, I spoke at the Olympic Congress. I was scandalised that I was the first athlete to be given that chance. But I made the most of it.

Sebastian Coe

I actually don't believe in big government, and half the time I'm never quite sure I believe in government, generally.

Sebastian Coe

Getting the Games for London has been the fulfilment of a dream. It is one which I truly believe can change the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people for the better. But in the end, nothing can quite compare with winning your first Olympic g...

Sebastian Coe

I was ecstatic when we won - to host the Olympics is one of the biggest opportunities in living memory. It will help change the lives of young people and transform east London.

Sebastian Coe

I have always been very good at being able to structure my time. My mother had a huge influence on me. My dad was my coach. He was a hugely influential figure.

Sebastian Coe

It is really important that we promote competitive support in schools. It is very important that we recognise that has to be underpinned by good quality physical education and by getting people into patterns of exercise.

Sebastian Coe

The great thing about athletics is that it's like poker sometimes: you know what's in your hand, and it may be a load of rubbish, but you've got to keep up the front.

Sebastian Coe

I had a very ordinary background in Sheffield; I went to a secondary modern, but I saw something on TV in 1968 that inspired me to join an athletics club, and 12 years later, with great coaching and the support of people who loved me a lot, I ended u...

Sebastian Coe

I do genuinely believe that young people who play sport at a competitive level, sensibly controlled, sensibly organised, that has to be a good thing. It will teach them to win, it will teach them to lose with dignity and magnanimity - all the things ...

Sebastian Coe

Ask me what makes a champion runner, and I will tell you it helps to have the great good sense to choose your parents carefully.

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