Book description
Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe presided over the golden era of British
athletics. Between them they won three Olympic gold medals, two silvers,
one bronze, and broke a total of twelve middle-distance records. They
were part of the landscape of the late seventies and early eighties --
both household names, their exploits were watched by millions. As far
apart as possible in terms of class and upbringing -- Ovett is the art
student, the long-haired son of a market-trader from Brighton, a natural
athlete; Coe's formative years were spent under the rigorous training
routine of Peter Coe, a self-taught trainer who referred to his son as
'my athlete' -- their rivalry burned as intense on the track as away
from it. The pendulum swung between the pair of them -- each breaking
the other's records, and, memorably, triumphing in each other's events
in Moscow in 1980 -- for the best part of a decade, until the final
showdown at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 . . .
The Perfect Distance is both a detailed re-creation and a fitting
celebration of the greatest era of British athletics. Pat Butcher, a
middle-distance runner himself, was athletics correspondent of The Times
for most of the 1980s. He has subsequently worked for BBC radio and
television, the Financial Times and L'Equipe.
