'I didn't just want to nibble at records': 40 years on from Coe's stunning 1981

Coe looks back on an extraordinary career, his world records, a 'run for cash' controversy and his rivalry with Steve Ovett Forty years ago this week, on a chaotic June night in Florence, Sebastian Coe set an 800m world record so breathtakingly supreme it stood for 16 years. His time, 1:41:73, remains instant shorthand for English sporting excellence, alongside 1966, 364 and 3:59:4 in the pantheon. Even now, in the era of super spikes and slick-fast tracks, only two men have gone quicker. "I did...