By Elias Makori
70 not out… and what an absolute masterclass of an innings it has been!
A massive Happy 70th Birthday (on September 29) to the peerless Lord Sebastian Coe — Olympic icon, titan of sports diplomacy, and the man who has spent the last decade steering World Athletics into the modern era.
Turning 70 is usually a prompt to finally shift down a gear, but if his career has taught us anything, it’s that Seb Coe simply doesn’t do slow.
Lord Sebastian Coe with Elias Makori at the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea. (Photo / File)
For those of us lucky enough to have worked alongside him - including my own proud tenure serving under his sharp, visionary leadership on the now-defunct World Athletics Press Commission - we know he approaches administration exactly how he approached the track: with flawless tactical execution, immense grace under pressure, and a refusal to be boxed in.
Long before he was commanding boardrooms, he was capturing the world's imagination in the late 1970s and '80s.
Who could forget the summer of 1979, when he rewrote the history books by demolishing three world records in a staggering 41 days, or the legendary, nation-dividing track rivalry with Steve Ovett that defined a golden era of British running?
Country code Kenyan: Sebastian Coe (254) during the peak of his stellar running career that yielded Olympic gold medals and world records. ( Photo / Sebastian Coe Archives)
When he finally hung up his spikes, he traded his running vest for a tailored suit, transitioning seamlessly into high-stakes sports management.
He pulled off the ultimate logistical gold medal as the Chairman of the London 2012 Olympic Games (LOCOG), giving the world a summer it would never forget. Then, in 2015, he took the baton as President of World Athletics, introducing bold, much-needed structural reforms to modernize the global sport.
As he prepares to hand over the presidency at the World Athletics Congress and Elections in Beijing on September 9 next year, his legacy remains as bulletproof as his legendary racing resume:
1980 Moscow Olympics: Gold (1,500m) & Silver (800m);
1984 Los Angeles Olympics: Gold (1,500m) & Silver (800m).
Lord Sebastian Coe (third from right) with members of the World Athletics (IAAF) Press Commission in Nassau, Bahamas, in 2014. (Photo / World Athletics)
Lord Coe, you have spent 70 years setting the pace, defying the clock, and raising the bar for everyone else. From Pura Vida Sports Africa, here’s to many, many more laps of honor.
God bless!
(Elias Makori, Founding Managing Editor at Pura Vida Sports Africa, is a Media Delegate at World Athletics and served as World Athletics (previously IAAF) Press Commission Member under the Chairmanship of Lord Sebastian Coe. Makori was awarded the 2012 World Athletics Journalist of the Year Award by Lord Coe in Barcelona)
Lord Sebastian Coe presents the 2012 World Journalist of the Year Award to Elias Makori in Barcelona. (Photo / World Athletics)
