Coe laments fall of British distance runners

OSAKA, Japan – Sebastian Coe sighed as he pondered the demise of that great British tradition, middle-distance running.

From Roger Bannister’s 4-minute mile to Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram, anything between 800 meters and the mile once was as British as Big Ben and high tea.

Then the records and medals all slipped away.

Coe, a two-time 1,500 Olympic gold medalist, is now overseeing the 2012 London Games and his success will also be measured by the number of medals Britain wins.

The outlook is not promising.

The 2005 world championships in Helsinki, Finland, earned Britain one gold and two bronze medals.

Expectations for the 2007 worlds which open here Saturday are even bleaker with no established favorite for any of the 47 golds.

Compare that to China, where the whole nation has been mobilized to turn Beijing 2008 into a success. Recent gold tallies in major competitions indicate China has a shot at finishing at the top of the Olympic medal standings.

It is something Coe can only dream of. While sports is seen as an opportunity in China, many Olympic disciplines have been neglected in Britain, he said in an interview. Coe pointed out two culprits: politicians and coaches.

“We had 30 years of sclerosis,” said Coe, a former conservative parliamentarian. “Those who are now lamenting in newspapers the lack of school sports and competition were sitting on their hands not prepared to do anything about it.”

Even when Coe was thriving in the early ‘80s, the fundamentals were already being neglected, he said. So when results took a nosedive in the new millennium, he was not surprised.

“It is not something that crept up on us over past few years,” Coe said. “This was evident in the ‘60s, it was clear in the ‘70s, it was crashing around our heads in the ‘80s and it was only in the ‘90s did we begin to even address it.”

Sports federations also came up short. He said when his generation faded into retirement, the coaches went with them.

“More effort should have been made by the federation to have gathered that experience and not allow the coaching experience to leave,” Coe said.

Today, American Alan Webb is the top runner in the 1,500, holding off a slew of Africans. The top Brit is in 27th place.

Still, Coe does not despair.

“Things can turn around quickly,” Coe said, before warning it would not be easy. “We should not kid ourselves we are coming back from sort of five yards off the pace. We’re not. We are a couple of laps behind.”