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All Quotes by author - Sebastian Coe

" All pressure is self-inflicted. It's what you make of it or how you let it rub off on you. "

" Ask me what makes a champion runner, and I will tell you it helps to have the great good sense to choose your parents carefully. "

" At university level, I had an economics lecturer who used to joke that I was the only student who handed in essays on British Airways notepaper. "

" Charlie Parker was a genius, as was Lester Young. "

" During my first Olympics in 1980, at the age of 23, I was physically in great condition but mentally too inexperienced to cope comfortably in the pressure cooker of an Olympic year. "

" Everybody recognises that giving young people competitive outlet through sport is a very good thing. "

" Football was not what I was put on this planet to do. "

" Getting the Games for London has been the fulfilment of a dream. It is one which I truly believe can change the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people for the better. But in the end, nothing can quite compare with winning your first Olympic gold medal. "

" Good running is the ability to have a very well defined on-board computer. The ability to judge distances when running in traffic. "

" I actually don't believe in big government, and half the time I'm never quite sure I believe in government, generally. "

" I can be a bit impatient sometimes. If I'm really focusing on something, I can expect everybody to move at the same pace, and that's probably not massively endearing. "

" I can remember the day I decided I would retire from competitive athletics as vividly as if it were yesterday. "

" I do genuinely believe that young people who play sport at a competitive level, sensibly controlled, sensibly organised, that has to be a good thing. It will teach them to win, it will teach them to lose with dignity and magnanimity - all the things you want. It's a pretty good metaphor for life. "

" I don't think I am a workaholic. I prefer to keep busy. It is better than the alternative. "

" I don't want to go back into politics - absolutely not. "

" I had a very ordinary background in Sheffield; I went to a secondary modern, but I saw something on TV in 1968 that inspired me to join an athletics club, and 12 years later, with great coaching and the support of people who loved me a lot, I ended up at an Olympic Games. "

" I have always been very good at being able to structure my time. My mother had a huge influence on me. My dad was my coach. He was a hugely influential figure. "

" I joined the local athletics club when I was 12, that's what I did. I did it of my own volition. "

" I know many people who are actually queasy about the idea that their kids may harbour sporting ambitions. "

" I'm a Chelsea season-ticket holder, and I've supported them for 37 years, so any judgment of Manchester United by me is seen as biased. "

" I'm not sure there are enough coaches in the system that can take young talent and consistently get them into the top five in the world. "

" I'm probably one of the few people who can say I did all three types of state sector schooling. "

" I'm such an odd mix of things. My grandfather was Indian: I've got more family living in India than I do in the U.K. My old man was East London. I was brought up in Yorkshire. My great-grandfather was Irish. "

" In 1981, I spoke at the Olympic Congress. I was scandalised that I was the first athlete to be given that chance. But I made the most of it. "

" In all Games, there is always a tendency, particularly in the lead up to the Games when there isn't much sport to talk about, to write about things that are not sport. "

" Inspirational leaders need to have a winning mentality in order to inspire respect. It is hard to trust in the leadership of someone who is half-hearted about their purpose, or only sporadic in focus or enthusiasm. "

" Interviewing Hugh McIlvanney, I got to read lots of his stuff again. I'm a big fan of his writing. "

" I started daily training at the age of 14. When I was 16 years old, I was running twice a day. "

" I started track and field when I was 12 and didn't get to an Olympic Games until I was nearly 23. By any stretch of the imagination that's a very long apprenticeship. "

" I still run every other day. Longer at weekends. I probably do 35 miles a week. "

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