A myriad of mandarins and quite a few moguls have been enlisted to help Coe carry the torch towards 2012 but it will be the 55-year-old double Olympic gold medallist who carries the can if it all goes belly-up between now and then. Of course there's no chance of that. Complacency is one thing, confidence another, and Coe has that in spades, though events of the past few weeks indicate it is not going to be a cake-walk in the Olympic Park.

Since the inspirational leadership in Singapore which sealed London's acquisition of the Games ahead of favourites Paris, Coe and his team have enjoyed showers of bouquets, not least from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) whose progress chasers have delivered glowing reports which say that no city has ever been as far advanced or better organised in its planning.

The main stadium is virtually up and running and the Sports and Olympics Minister Minister Hugh Robertson announced this week that 88 per cent of projects are complete and the Games are several million pounds under budget. There is every indication that, in performance terms, the host nation will exceed even its unprecedented triumphs in Beijing. But lately some hefty brickbats have followed those bouquets.

Coe always was a last lap man, and in his office 23 floors high above Canary Wharf, overlooking the increasingly resplendent Olympic Park, the lord of the Olympic rings talked of the trials, tribulations and he hopes the ultimate triumph of the coming year, acknowledging: "It will be tough. I don't think I have ever said anything different. We are now into the guts of the project, the sharp end of it, where things are quite public, but we are in really good shape. I say that without any mock heroism. How we come out of this next 12 months is going to determine the shape of the Games."

Currently a flak jacket might be more appropriate than the tailored coat on the back of his chair. Over the past six years there has been the occasional blip; the laughs over the logo, protests over the use of Greenwich Park for horsey events and ongoing litigation over the footy future of the Olympic Stadium, but nothing quite as hurtful as the outrage that erupted over the sale of Olympic tickets.

Coe sighs when reminded that the phone-in lines were jammed with ticketless fans cursing his name. "Over a seven year project, there will be times when it hits choppy water. The reality is that is was a no-win situation. Tell me in your lifetime where there has a been a demand on this scale for a sporting event anywhere in the world. Nothing remotely touches this. We had 23 million applications for tickets and there were six million available. I don't dismiss for a moment the disappointment that has been expressed by those who didn't get tickets. I'm a sports fan myself so I know how they feel. But there is no system you can put in place given that scope and that scale that is ever going to be perfect. I know it may sound heartless to those who missed out because of the incredible demand, but I don't know a way that was fairer. I don't think I could have played God or could have said, 'I'm going to limit you to two tickets'. And first come first served would have been a tout's charter.


"My number one priority was that I wanted full stadia. I don't want to be a chairman of an Organising Committee when those watching on telly are asking 'Why was the hockey arena only a third full?' 'Why were there big chunks of seating available for track and field?' But I also wanted people who looked like they wanted to be there.

"I wish we could have built a 150,000 seater athletics stadium or a 50,000 aquatic centre. To put 60,000 seats around the velodrome would have been wonderful but I doubt the people of East London would have been particularly chuffed three weeks after the Games when they are trying to figure out what to do with them.

"I recognise that in a country that is sport mad but has limited incomes we needed to put tickets out there that were affordably priced and I don't think anyone can argue that we didn't do that. Two thirds of tickets are under £50 ($81) and only one in ten over £100 ($161). If people are prepared to pay £2,012 ($3,250) for an Opening Ceremony ticket, I am delighted because they can subsidise 2.3 million tickets at £20 ($32). Ticket sales also provide a quarter of our budget

"When you have that kind of demand you are going to have people that didn't get tickets and I feel for them, that's why we targeted the next group specifically for those who didn't get tickets and ultimately I believe we'll get nine out of ten across the line." This is because, as he revealed, there will be more tickets available next year.

So was it all ploy just to make sure the stadiums were full. "Absolutely not. There was no ploy. We honestly believed this was the best way to do it, and still do."

Two million people applied only for the Opening Ceremony, one a half million of them seeking tickets at £20.12 ($32.50). A million alone applied for just the 100 metres final. He admits that the number of tickets for 'Joe Public' at these Blue Riband happenings will be less than at most of the others "about half because of the media interest, the sponsor take-up and the Olympic family."

He says the next tranche of tickets will be 'contingency' ones. "When we finally know where all the camera angles are, when we know what Danny Boyle has got in mind for the opening and closing ceremonies and the scale and size of the teams, there will be more  tickets available, hopefully even for athletics.

"We were never going to sell a ticket we weren't sure we had. We have 21 sports that are not in the Olympic Park. We have a mountain of temporary venues and configuration of those seats is still being thought through, so in the early part of next year there will be another chunk of tickets available."

Tickets, or the lack of them, have not been the only issue causing hostility towards Coe of late. Londoners are beginning to realise how seriously inconvenienced the lives of some could be next summer when the five-ringed circus hits town, with former Mayor Ken Livingstone joining chorus of cabbies and shopkeepers incensed over the disruption they believe will be caused by the contentious Olympic lanes.


Coe argues: "The Olympic network is about 200 kilometres and barely one per cent of that will be Olympic lanes. These will be kept clear for very good reasons because they are the lifeline for the athletes, the Olympic family and people working at the Games. The IOC have elected to stay in the West End because of the nature and size of the hotels."

Although some of us may consider there are other, more sybaritic attractions instrumental in that decision!

"The secondary consideration is that you can either be remembered as a Barcelona or an Atlanta, and I don't want to be remembered as the latter, thanks. The reputational damage of not getting this right would be immense. I've heard it said it said wrongly that there will be 100 days of  disruption. Yes, there will be some, inevitably, but this is a once in a lifetime experience, an exceptional period in the history of London and I think Londoners get that. We are all going to have to recognise that this is not business as usual, but business unusual."

So how will July 27, 2012, look from July 27, 2011? "Well, at the moment under budget and ahead of schedule. To say we are sitting here with a year to go and the bulk of our venues nailed down and signed off with a fund raising effort on our side of the fence that has exceeded anything that a previous summer Games has achieved, despite an economic downturn, well, if you'd asked me six years ago if I would take that, yes I would.

"I really want people to start believing now. One of the things I adore about this country is that we have an ability to doubt our ability more than any other nation. I want people to start seeing beyond the next hillock. As a nation we are slow burners but we will get there because in East London the skyline is changing and in Middlesbrough there are now parents who have got kids rowing when a couple of years ago they didn't even know what a boat looked like."

Doesn't this make him sound, er, complacent? "Complacency is so far off the agenda. Never. The complexity of this project is of such an order that even a vestige of complacency would be a very dangerous thing. But this is not the time to be timid.

"I know that the next year is going to demand more from all of us. There's an awful lot of stuff still to do.

"I want to see a Games that are very well run, where the athletes are the first consideration. I want the athletes to be able to look me in the eye and I want to be able to look them in the eye and say that I left no stone unturned. I know what it's like, I have been there and I can't by conscience invite people to the Games and give them substandard venues and transport plans. The athlete in me will always ensure that if there is a priority, if there is an extra pound to be spent. it will go to the competitors.

"That's why I am doing this. I want them to be able to say to me, 'There is nothing more you could have done to help my performance.'

"I also want people to come to London to see a magnificent city, a modern Britain at it's best because I think it is a unique country and I want people to feel they would like to come back.

"I know it's going to be hard from now on, and everyone's prepared for that. We've agreed the vision, we set the strategy but the next year is the guts of this. It's what will define the Games.

"I am chairing an organisation that in the space of 16 days is going to deliver 26 simultaneous world championships across 34 different venues. They we'll take a short breather and do pretty much the same for 20 Paralympic sports over 25 venues.

"Nothing that has happened in the last six years has either surprised me or made me less believing in what we are doing."


Since getting the job the one-time Tory MP for Falmouth has avoided stepping into any political puddles as adroitly as he quickstepped his way around the world's tracks. But there are political issues to be dealt with whatever Government is in power in 2012. Legacy being the most contentious.

"Legacy will not fall into our laps just because we've got a Games that we think will excite and inspire. IIf we don't do something that is coherent and strategic then we will end up like Wimbledon when the tennis rackets come out and a fortnight later are back in the cupboard. We can't afford that because we will never have this opportunity again. I am not sitting here being complacent but nor am I in any doubt that in the key areas we will get that legacy. But how we monitor it and how we make sure that tap is not turned off after 2012 is very important."

Lord Coe, a divorced father of four who two weeks ago married long-term partner Carol, daughter of the former England cricket captain Mike Smith, as always seems to be pacing the distance well. In July 2005 he was on the mark in Singapore; the past five years have been well spent getting set and now, it is all systems go for the run-up to 2012.

"I wouldn't be sitting out this dance for anything. OK, so not every day is an unalloyed joy but I know I am incredibly lucky because I know I have the best job in the world. I wake up every morning excited."

But what happens when he wakes up the morning it is all over? How does he see life after 2012? "You've been asking me that question for the last six years. The answer is I don't know."

So here's a thought. While Coe says any political ambitions are now sporting rather than political, the IAAF Presidency being an obvious objective, if it all turns out to be as wonderful as everyone hopes wouldn't he be the perfect candidate to pick up he Mayoral baton when Boris Johnson or his successor decide to pass it on? After all, by then even Chelsea fans might have acknowledged that there's only one Sebastian Coe.

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, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.