It's the race of his life and Coe is on the final bend as Olympics loom

By
Patrick Collins

PUBLISHED:

21:54 GMT, 14 April 2012

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UPDATED:

21:54 GMT, 14 April 2012

A foggy morning in east London and, from the 23rd floor, the Olympic Stadium is no more than a hint on the horizon.

Yet Sebastian Coe sits with his back to the office window, as if even a glimpse into the gloom might emphasise the urgency of his task.

This Wednesday, the Games of the XXX Olympiad will be 100 days away. Reality is nudging his ribs. 'Time's gone so quickly. Flown by,' he says.

'You can sense the excitement by the little things that happen. The other day, in central London, I met a woman who was a volunteer, a bloke who was going to carry the torch and a girl who told me she was dancing in the opening ceremony. All inside 15 minutes on Oxford Street! It's happening out there. And not just at home.

Flying the flag: Lord Coe is relishing delivering the games to London

'I don't believe I've ever witnessed so much international excitement about an Olympics. You feel it when you walk into the international training centre in Tokyo and you meet their gymnasts or their triathlon team and they just can't stop talking about London.

'They can't wait to get here. And that's typical. Dar-es- Salaam to Marrakesh, from Beijing to Los Angeles, there's people just longing to get to London.

'Everyone's always excited about going to an Olympic Games but there's something different this time, because it's London.'

The unprecedented speed at which tickets were sold effectively settled the debate about the nation's readiness to embrace the Olympics.

As Coe says: 'You don't tell the British people they're going to have a wonderful time, they'll figure it out themselves.

In a previous life: Seb Coe in his days as a top athlete

'I never thought we'd have a problem selling tickets because I think that sport actually matters to our public.'

There is something of the zealot about Coe as he pursues his theory: 'I've done countless miles, travelling this country. Seeing extraordinary people doing things they didn't know they had it in themselves to do.

'In Truro the other day one of our community leaders, a young girl, said to me, “I was doing nothing three years ago. Now I've got 20 kids in a playground coming to see me three nights a week”.

'It's amazing. We've got millions of kids involved in all sorts of things and 24,000 schools in our Get Set programme.'

His eight years as chairman of the organising committee have not been uniformly smooth, and the disruption of the Boat Race prompted inevitable Olympic speculation.

Coe calls last weekend's protest 'a monstrous piece of self-indulgence.'

Delivered: The Olympic Stadium was opened on time

But he pleads for perspective, and delivers a response culled from his previous life as a party politician: 'We have a long history of peaceful demonstrations, as long as they don't put athletes or spectators at risk.'

The success or otherwise of the London Games will be determined by the collective ability of the Organising Committee. Coe is confident in his team.

'They're the reason I don't get sleepless nights,' he says. 'Remarkable people. I was working here at about 10 the other night and a third of the staff were still here.

'The nearest I've seen to that kind of focus was many years ago; that little group who worked with me to get round two or four laps faster than the next guy. It reminds me a lot of those morning sessions I had with my Dad, when we'd be sitting there and saying, “OK let's look at what you did last night, let's modify this or change that”.

'For me, it's very similar. You are thinking minute by minute, the decisions are coming thick and fast.'

Park of dreams: The Olympic Stadium is the centre point of the Olympic Park

The larger questions are still looming; the nature of regeneration, the scope of the sporting legacy, the mark that the festival will leave on the country at large. But the hopes and fears of the nation revolve around the man who delivered the Games. Coe attempts to make light of the burden.

'I'm doing something I thoroughly enjoy and I instinctively understand,' he says. But when he thinks of the Raffles Convention Centre in Singapore, on the evening of July 6, 2005, when the IOC president opened an envelope to announce the triumphant city, does he never secretly wish that Jacques Rogge had said the word: 'Paris'

Coe is faintly shocked at the notion. 'No, no, no! Never!' he says. 'By the day, by the hour, I'm more convinced that it will be fantastic.

'Anyway, I've always felt that what we've had to deal with, even on the difficult days, has been trivial compared to what this could mean for generations to come.'

Come Wednesday, the days will dwindle to a precious few, and Coe's optimism will be tested as never before.

The Games of London will depend on the talents of the man and his team. We should wish them well.