Blogtober Day 6: Seb Coe

Seb Coe's life reads like a movie. He's widely considered one of the best (if not the best) British runners of all time; his rivalry with fellow Brit Steve Ovett dominated track for much of the 1980s. He set eight outdoor and three indoor world records in middle-distance track events – including, in 1979, setting three world records in 41 days – and the world record he set in the 800m in 1981 remained unbroken until 1997 (and still stands as the UK record and makes him the third fastest ever at that distance). He was the first person to hold world records for the 800m, 1500m and the mile simultaneously, and is the only athlete ever to rank No. 1 in the world at the 800m and 1500m at the same time. He won four Olympic medals -- two golds in the 1500m and two silvers in the 800m -- in 1980 and 1984, becoming the first and only runner to win two consecutive Olympic titles in the 1500m.

Seb retired from athletics in 1990, and within two years was elected as Member of Parliament for Falmouth and Camborne for the Conservative Party, a position he held until 1997. In 2000, he was created a Life Peer in Surrey -- I don't know what that even involves, but now he can properly be referred to as Lord Coe AND Baron Coe. (Now, how does he write his name with so many fancy titles? Lord Baron Sebastian Coe? Baron Lord Sebastian Coe? Sebastian Coe, the incredibly successful? #struggles)

After Lord Baron Supreme Ruler Demigod Coe finished up his career in politics, he decided to re-enter the sports world. He joined the board for the London 2012 Olympic bid company... and, when the chairman resigned, he assumed her position because of all of his Olympic renown and connections. As we all know, the bid was successful, and then Seb became the chairman of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. So basically, we owe a huge chunk of the London 2012 Olympics to this guy. And following the Olympics, Seb was appointed chairman of the British Olympic Association.

Have other such high-profile athletes gone on to such high-profile positions in the Olympic movement? If so, they're very few and very far between. Seb is an incredibly important sports figure both on the track and off, and it's a shame that he took the world by storm during the boycotted Moscow 1980 Olympics so most Americans had no idea.

Now all he needs is to become a knight.