Ovett and I would have been like the Odd Couple in a lockdown house together but Laura and Jemma can be flatmates and still be fiercest of rivals
IT TAKES something special to outshine the shimmering wit of playwright, screenwriter and all-round comedic genius Neil Simon, a man capable of prompting hilarity with every stroke of the pen.
Yet Olympic legend Seb Coe, inspired by the house-sharing arrangements of locked-down training partners Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie, might just have stumbled across an idea guaranteed to deliver a best screenplay Oscar.
‘It gave me the comic image of me and Steve Ovett being housed together during lockdown — and I’m not sure that would have worked,’ a laughing Coe
told Sportsmail.
‘What was that movie with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon? Yeah, you’d have had more comic material from us than you had in
The Odd Couple.’
Coe — that’s Lord Coe to you, thanks — is in a jubilant mood as he assesses the impact of two Scottish athletes winning Diamond League races on the same day.
Sunday’s victories by Muir and Reekie, over 1500 and 800 metres respectively, caused the spotlight already on the close friends to burn just that little bit brighter.
Rivals on the track, a box-office pairing guaranteed to generate heat and noise, their combined success is generating attention far beyond the sum of their respective parts.
IAAF president Coe is a long-time fan of Muir, having first pulled the then-youngster aside for a private pep talk following some traumatic racing experiences in the summer of 2014.
And the double Olympic champion, a winner over 1500 metres at the 1980 and ’84 Games, has been nothing but impressed by the breakthrough times — and wins —being recorded by 22-year-old Reekie.
Coe, whose 800 metres record stood for an astonishing 16 years, has an obvious affection for anyone who runs in ‘his’ events. He’s loved watching Muir and Reekie go head-tohead, just as much as he’s enjoying their individual achievements.
And, yes, he gets the joke. Understands that this pair will never — hopefully — be forced into the kind of Cold War that drove him and Ovett (right) to break records, and even nearly each other, in pursuit of greatness.
‘Look, the great thing about athletics is it is quite possible to be deadly earnest, deadly serious in competition — but still have those friendships,’ he said.
‘I had some pretty good friendships with people like John Walker, Eamonn Coghlan and Stevie Cram. ‘But, when you stepped out on the track, it was business — and you bounced back quite quickly into friendship when the race was over, win or lose. ‘Look, I don’t think we should shy away from their rivalry. Box office is great for our sport. Because sport is our activity — but our business is entertainment. ‘So we shouldn’t be naïve or coy or slightly po-faced about admitting that we’re in the entertainment business. ‘The more we recognise that, the stronger our sport will be. And box office is good for that. But good coaching has to trump box office. And good coaching will dictate that, from time to time, there is benefit in Laura and Jemma racing together — and there will be times when the benefit lies in them ploughing their own paths at different distances, in different races.
‘It will be a mix and good coaching will figure that out. And the athletes themselves will know, instinctively, when it’s the right time — and when it’s not the right time.
‘Probably not in the lead-up to a major championships, I would guess. That’s not my decision.
‘Two things about Sunday. Yes, I’m very impressed. But, secondly, I’m far from surprised.
‘They’re both process-driven athletes. They’re in good training
regimes, they’ve got good people looking after them.
‘When you have that sort of matrix together, you will be successful. And they’re smart. They’re bright athletes — and they have resilience.
‘I know Laura has resilience in abundance. I still remember 2014, the long chat we had in the stand after the European Championships, when things hadn’t gone well.
‘I just knew that she was going to be fine. And it’s clear that Jemma has many of those same qualities. They’ll feed off each other, as well.’
Muir absolutely destroyed an elite field in Stockholm on Sunday, surging away from the pack on the final lap to win the metric mile with the fastest time in the world this year. Reekie also finished well clear in the 800, underlining her arrival as a genuine force.
For Coe, these two performances represent part of something much bigger for Scottish athletics.
Admitting that he inevitably pays more attention to the 800 and 1500, he said: ‘Those are my distances. I will be biased — but I think they are fantastic distances, they are box office.
‘I love to see people performing well; I loved to see Jake Wightman doing so well when I was in Monaco for the opening Diamond League event.
‘Laura also ran a really good race that night but it was her first step out.
‘But Jake ending up No 2 on the all-time list is fantastic. I’m so pleased for the boy. And I just heard Josh Kerr won a race over in the States recently, too.
‘You guys could be heading into a nice little golden patch, here. Which is what the sport needs.’
JEMMA REEKIE is back on the track tonight, competing in the 800 metres at a low-key event in Chorzow, Poland.
“They’re smart, bright athletes — and resilient”