SEBASTIAN COE FACTFILE

First steps on the track

BORN September 29, 1956 in Hammersmith, London, his family moves to Sheffield in the north of England where Coe first shows athletic promise as a 12-year-old with Hallamshire Harriers. His first coach, father Peter, develops Coe’s stamina by making him train on Sheffield’s steep hills. Enrols at Loughborough University in 1975.

World records and rivalries

RIVALS with Steve Ovett since first racing against each other in a 1972 schools meet, the first major battle between them was over 800 metres at the 1978 European Championships in Prague, but both are beaten by Olaf Beyer. Coe emerges from Ovett’s shadow in 1979 to break the 800m, 1 500m and mile record in the space of 41 days. At the Moscow Olympics in 1980, Coe leaves his kick too late in the 800 final and trails in behind Ovett, but responds to win the 1 500m in which Ovett had been favourite. Coe and Ovett avoid racing against each other for the next four years but trade world mile records. Coe’s 800m world record, set in Florence in 1981, lasts 16 years.

Los Angeles Olympics

STRUGGLING with a blood infection, Coe’s place in the British team looks in doubt. He recovers but loses to Brazil’s Joaquim Cruz in the 800. Coe beats Ovett and world champion Steve Cram in the 1 500m to become the first man to retain the title, despite being mostly written off by British media.

Retirement

COE wins the European Championships in Stuttgart in 1986 but does not make the 1988 Olympic team and retires after the 1990 Commonwealth Games.

Track to House of Commons

Coe is elected the Conservative Member of Parliament for Falmouth and Camborne in 1992, keeping his seat for five years until 1997.

London 2012

COE leads London to victory over Paris in the race to host the 2012 Olympic Games, with many pointing to his rousing speech at the 2005 vote in Singapore as the decisive moment. Despite early public cynicism, Coe helps win over the media as London hosts a highly successful Olympic Games.

Other roles and IAAF

COE has a spell as the first chairman of Fifa’s ethics committee and is elected chairman of the British Olympic Association. Appointed IAAF vice president in 2007 and 2011, and in November 2014 says he will stand for election to replace outgoing president Lamine Diack.

Presidential campaign

UP against fellow Olympic champion Sergey Bubka, Coe travels a reported 700000 miles to gather support. Takes a combative stance when the IAAF is rocked by claims in a UK newspaper and German TV channel that it failed to act on thousands of suspicious blood samples from 2001-12. Calls allegations a “declaration of war” on the sport.

Victory

COE is elected IAAF president after beating Bubka by 115 votes to 92 in the governing body’s Congress. – Reuters