Ovett. Better

...and the 1993 World Champs too. I have fond memories of all of those events.

Why does everything have to be about a war nearly 80 years ago? It was even very cloudy with no sun.

@@bfc3057 A) Not 'everything' is about the war😆 B) Spitfires epitomized grace & speed C) Behind the clouds streaming through gaps is what... ⛅️ ? Hope that helps BFC

​​​​​@@gringo19860 this is about athletics - they're 3 humans, running very ungainly in the rain on a cloudy not sunny night. They're tieing up slowing down (less than the others) in the final 100m of an 800m. Coe is heavily grimacing, Crams head is going left and right and McKean is torsioning to the left. It's not remotely graceful - it's a real 800m. They don't look remotely like Spitfires of any mark. You've obviously never run an 800m or 400m or you wouldn't have written that nonsense. It's the usual obsession with the war - leave it for Duxford.

@@bfc3057 haha BFC you're showing rude ignorance now by making a false judgement of my athletics background - something you know nothing of. Sorry you were triggered by the 'figure of speech' the announcer used (chemamorphism or reverse personification), and God forbid, reference to iconic British aircraft!!😨 Will leave you to get back to your keyboard criticizing others...😔 Review Keely's recent 800m win - that should cheer you up haha🏅 and I think we'll agree, her gazelle-like (is that better?) form beats that of Coe & Cram.

@@gringo19860 She didn't run in the mens European Championships in Stuttgart in 1986. Spare me the "triggered" cliche.You're a fool looking for people to reply to you. Waste somebody else's time.

@@Always_ponder Coe was actually in the same position as in Moscow 1980.

But isn't that the point - he was head and shoulders better than the rest because he knew his strengths so tactically he was very sound. There are no absolute rules about tactics; you employ those tactics that suit you as a runner - taking into consideration your knowledge of your opponents strengths and weaknesses. As a coach, back in the day, I would be suggesting to my charge different tactics that were dependent on how he/she felt on the day and the strengths of the rest of the field.

@@robertford5228 Sure but you also want to run your own race and not be dictated to by others. Great runners dictate to others. In a 2 lap race the last thing you want to do is always be in lane 2, 3 or 4 especially on the bends. Coe ended up running much further than anyone else in this race. To watch exactly how the last 800 of a race should be run just watch Coe when he won the 1500 metre Olympic Final in 1984. He didn't allow anyone to bully him. He was almost always in the perfect position and destroyed the field!! Sure he won this 800 metres but he made much harder work of it than a runner of his ability should have done.

No, Steve Ovett.

Ovett was brilliant but just pipped by the sheer grace of coe in my humble opinion, but i loved Ovett as well. Great times watching both these legends

@@chrismorgan9460 I think Ovett actually has by my reckoning more gold medals in total than Coe but that doesn't always mean everything. Coe was the better 800m runner but I think Ovett was more versatile although I don't think we saw the limit of his ability. He must be the only Olympic 800m champion to win a major title at 5000m and if he could break the world record at 1500m in 1983 in 3.30.77 when passed his best he should have been able to run 3.29 around 1981. After his railings accident he was never quite the same again.

@@Ruda-n4h Yes those bloody railings......

Tom McKean was a great championship 800 metre runner. Peter Elliott too was able to peak time and again at major championships. Great though they were, they were always very slightly in the shadow of Ovett, Coe & Cram. But with those famous five, what a glorious era in British middle distance running.

And yet won - the notable exception being the Moscow 800. It would suggest that perhaps he had a pretty spot on tactical brain - a runner who knew his capabilities and his strengths; holding the middle of the pack and coming through over the last 150 metres and winning seemed to be a tactic that worked. I would whole heartedly agree with you had he lost a lot more than he won, but he was a winner through and through.

@@robertford5228 It's all ifs and buts but If he'd only controlled the 1980 Olympic 800 metre final from the front, no-one could have passed him.

Yes, apart from the 2 superbly judged 1500m gold medals and the rest apart from Moscow 800m in which he was terrified of Ovetts racing reputation. In this race he was tracking Cram the whole way around and ran a very astute tactical race

​@@KryptonitetoallBShe was too terrified that day to do that. He also wasn't going to do all the work for Ovett.