Sebastian Coe, chair of the London 2012 Organizing Committee, knows as much as anyone about how to approach a finishing line. But the two-time gold (1500m) and silver (800m) medal winner of the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics is arguably tackling his toughest ever assignment: delivering a successful Olympic Games to London.
I recently sat down with Coe for a wide-ranging interview where we didn’t just discuss the dreaded L word (in the Olympic lexicon, L always stands for Legacy) but how vitally important these Games are to East London and how Coe has sought inspiration from his favorite parts of previous Games. History will ultimately judge if Coe’s vision was successful but he’s always been a winner and isn’t contemplating anything other than making London 2012 the greatest games of all time.