1996
60 Minutes each
Biographical
Available on VHS
1996, 5 tapes, 60 minutes on each tape and available from Amazon.com. A Sunset + Vine Production. Narrated by Nick Chilvers, written by Eddie Butler, and directed by Ian Sollors and Mike Cocker. This is one of the finest videos to cover individual athletes. The back of the box states: "Throughout Olympic history, certain athletes have left an indelible mark on their respective sports. The Olympic performances of legends such as Edwin Moses, Mark Spitz, Olga Korbut and others have embodied the true spirit and notion of the games by providing a source of inspiration to millions of people around the world. Olympians Triumphs profiles the men and women who reserved their greatest performances for the Olympics. Each video features two legendary Olympians, focusing on their moments of triumph in front of the world, and the story behind their personal road to Olympic glory." The athletes that are paired on each tape include:
Edwin Moses & Sebastian Coe
Emil Zátopek & Mark Spitz
Daley Thompson & Greg Louganis
Mark Todd & Carl Lewis
Olga Korbut & Vassily Alexeyev
Olympian Triumph- Sebastian Coe
Welcome to the golden era of British middle distance running. This tape opens with the end of Coe’s first world record from Oslo, Norway on July 5, 1979 in the 800 meters. The track announcer shows his astonishment of lowering Alberto Juantorena’s mark by 1.07 seconds as Coe races to a 1:42.33 clocking. Over the next 41 days this 22 year old also set world records in the mile (3:49.0) and 1500 meters (3:32.1). The races are magical and the scope and depth of this presentation make this, as well as the features of other track athletes (Emil Zátopek, Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses, and Daley Thompson) on this five tape collection, some of the best to be found.
Starting from an early age with home video style footage, you see Coe running and comments from his father and soon to be coach, Peter Coe. Footage showing interval training on the roadway with Peter following him in his car, from the 1985 documentary Sebastian Coe: Born to Run, is utilized with different narration. Interviews, training, analysis, and race coverage carry you through the ups and downs experienced in the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Olympic games. In these races you will see the start, and at least the last 200 meters (if not the entire last lap), as well as athletes on the award stand. Coe will always be known as the first man to repeat as Olympic 1500 meter champion and here are some quotes from his interviews:
"I used to just physically love the sensation of just running. On a sort of fairly regular basis, particularly weekends, I would think nothing, even at the age of seven or eight, of perhaps running four or five miles. It never seemed to hurt me."
"I think you ask any competitor they’ll tell you half an hour before an event ‘What the hell am I doing here? Why am I doing this?’ and three minutes after the event they are planning for the next one. It’s a sickness."
"I think natural talent is very very important but you’ve seen it in any sport, it’s not enough. There are plenty of sports where you can stand and watch somebody with all the God given talent in the world but it just doesn’t do it. And it’s that amalgam of natural talent, just that burning desire to do something better than the next person. And if you can get a synthesis of the two, plus the ability to commit 15 to 20 years of unremitting work, then you’ve got the combination but it’s a very rare one I have to say."
"He was madly competitive. I knew at 14 he was very good; at 16 I was certain that he would be great so that everything had to be geared around maximizing his chances by giving him the best quality training on the least amount of volume." ~Peter Coe
Many people were unaware of the viral infection that Coe had to overcome prior to his second Olympic games. John Hovell became his coach and he ran with a group from a local running club to build back his form. As Hovell explains, "It was a matter of totally rebuilding this man up to take on an Olympic program of seven races in the space of nine days, all at world class. It was like David being flung to the lions." After watching this one you will have a better sense of the talent, planning, and determination that allowed Coe to be remembered so fondly to this day. Visit Amazon.com to purchase this VHS set from a variety of available sellers.
