Ubiquitous is a word that might have been invented for Sebastian Newbold Coe, aka Baron Coe of Ranmore, Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, whom I have known since he was plain Seb, a 17-year-old fresh-faced , enormously talented young athlete and impecunious student from Sheffield. Now, as footy fans have chanted about every midfield dynamo from Alan Ball through to Joe Cole, via Charlie George and Stevie Gerrard, "he’s here, he’s there, he’s every bloody where."

These past few days it has been impossible to open a newspaper without digesting voluminous interviews with the lord of London’s Olympic rings. As the next 24 months will be among the most momentous in our sporting history it seems only right the man whose omnipresence and oratory was the decisive factor in securing the 2012 Games should have his place in the Sun, and the Mail, Guardian, Mirror, Express, Times, Independent, Telegraph etc al,. not to mention just about every TV channel and radio station. About the only breakfast-time sofa he hasn’t sat on  is Jeremy Kyle’s.

Yet the most astonishing aspect of the blanket coverage given to 2012’s two-year-countdown is that despite the hundreds of thousands of words he has spoken on the subject, he rarely repeats himself. What is remarkable is that he can give so many interviews, speaking in the same precisely measured manner in which he floated so elegantly along the track ,delivering the same upbeat message, yet saying something different virtually every time. He takes care not to repeat himself and always there is a sound-bite which will make a headline or become lodged in the consciousness. He is sport’s consummate salesman. 

I have been reflecting on the 36 years of our friendship, during which he has gone from lad to lord and now overlord, while, observing him at work in a role which seems to be the fulfilment of his destiny. It is one he continues to do brilliantly, with professionalism and panache. "We are bloody lucky to have him, aren’t we?" remarked one senior member of the sporting establishment at the rapidly blossoming  Olympic Park , where Coe wooed the British media he has termed the most forensic in the world .

Yet until some seven years ago Coe was the last person many involved in putting the bid together wanted on board.

In some circles he was perceived as too much of a smooth operator, cocksure, complacent and fired with unrequited political ambition. And a definite threat to those blazers who liked to think they were sport’s  powerbrokers.

So forgive a spot of personal indulgence here. If it were not for a couple of media colleagues and myself Coe might not be where he is today, and we probably would have been making plans to spend the summer of 2012  by the Seine. It was seven years ago, after the confirmation that London would be bidding for the Games under the chairmanship of American Barbara Cassani - a jaw-dropping left field appointment engineered by the then London Mayor, Ken Livingstone – a whole raft of appointments to the bid board were announced by the Department of Culture Media and Sport.

Among them were worthy names like Craig Reedie, Alan Pascoe and  Keith Mills  but there was one glaring omission: Sebastian Coe. 

It was believed at the time that his political affiliation (he had been a somewhat wet Tory MP for Falmouth and William Hague’s chief of staff and judo partner) was not to the liking of the Labour Government. And so strong was his personality it was felt his presence might put a number of noses out of joint.  

It was during the Grand Prix athletics meeting at Crystal Palace that Colin Hart of The Sun, the Daily Mail’s Neil Wilson and I chanced upon Tessa Jowell, the Minister of State who had just persuaded Tony Blair to back the embryo bid. We gave her quite an ear bashing about the omission of one of Britain’s greatest-ever Olympians. Why, we asked, was someone as articulate, well connected and a favourite son of the IOC, being snubbed?

Tessa was clearly taken aback by the force of our argument but to her credit, she listened, promised “I’ll look into it” and shortly afterwards Coe was recruited as a vice-chairman. A few months later Cassani - always a square peg in the Olympic rings - stepped down when it was apparent that the bid was imploding. Coe was the natural choice to take over as chairman; any political and personal prejudices were shoved aside  and, loh and behold, the rest, as they say, is history.

Another black mark against Coe had been that some years before when the British Olympic Association decided to nominate Manchester as a candidate for the 1996 Olympics, Coe had been associated with a group trying to get a rival London bid together. It was felt that this might undermine Manchester’s chances (always slim to none anyway) and the BOA president Princess Anne, in her best "naff orf" mode, peevishly labelled him a "pratley".

Unfazed, Coe said at the time that in his view the only UK city which had any chance of staging an Olympic Games was London.  He wasn’t wrong, was he ma’am?

Amid the hype and hoopla of the two years and counting celebrations another milestone in Coe’s career seems to have been overlooked. This Sunday sees the 30th anniversary of the first of his two Olympic gold medals, both perversely won over 1500 metres and not the 800m that was his signature event. The scenario was to be repeated four years later in Los Angeles but on a balmy evening in  Moscow six days before the 1500m final Coe had been beaten by Steve Ovett over two laps during an era in which their rivalry had been as fiercely and unremittingly combative as that of Ali and Frazier.

When Coe crossed the line he raised his right arm and imperiously thrust his index finger in the direction of the press box. He was to insist later that this was not the "up yours" gesture some thought but merely signified "to certain people" he was number one.   

While his current trademark is diplomacy, Coe has never shied away from controversy.

He has always been the among most media friendly of all British sporting figures and has become one of us, writing regularly for the Daily Telegraph.

I had introduced him to the public prints, getting him to write a column when I was sports editor of The Observer in the nineties and can vouch for the fact that not only did he scribble every word himself, but they were painstakingly polished and always eminently  readable. Mind you I hope he is better at meeting deadlines for the delivery of the Games than he was when submitting his copy!

Just a month short of his 54th birthday Coe seems inexhaustible, rising at dawn most days in the Surrey home he shares with the lady in his life, Carol, daughter of the former England cricket captain Mike Smith. He and ex-Badminton three day event champion Nicky McIrvine, were divorced eight years ago but Coe remains in close touch with their four children. He also insists on staying in touch with the people and happily chats to the Jubilee Line punters when travelling to LOCOG's Canary Wharf. Lord he may be, lord it he doesn’t.

I have always believed that this country would not realise what is about to hit it once the World Cup hysteria was over. Coe himself says that the enormity of the Olympic project and the effect it will have on or lives has yet to fully impact on us. There is a belief among those organising the Games that England’s ignominious exit from football’s World Cup has done 2012the Games a huge favour as the nation now needs something to look forward to that is both positive and uplifting. Knowing Seb as I do, I have no doubt he will triumphantly strike gold two years from now - just as he did 30 years ago.  

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics and 10 Commonealth Games.