CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
AFTER DINNER SPEAKERS
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WIKIPEDIA
SPEECH TITLES
The Winning Mind
Taking on World Class Competition
Maintaining the Appetite to Succeed
BIOGRAPHY
Lord Coe is Chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. Using all his political skills and strategic know-how, he famously led the bid to host the world's biggest sporting event in 2012. It was the same determination that had earlier helped him become one of the greatest athletes of his generation.
On the track Seb set twelve world records over four distances, achieving four gold and three silver medals in the Olympics and European Championships. He tells the story, from the moment he was inspired as a child by a local hero to his father's grueling coaching routine, in his new book - The Winning Mind.
In his equally inspiring speech Seb talks about the setbacks and the hard graft as well as the victories. He explains how he beat the competition by facing down everything in training, by minimising the variables and maintaining focus. He now applies a similar approach in his leadership role, encouraging others to fulfil their own potential.
Seb has an unusual depth and breadth of experience. After retiring from competitive athletics he entered Parliament as MP for Falmouth and Cambourne, then served as a Government whip and as Private Secretary to William Hague (- the subject of numerous entertaining anecdotes). He also became an advisor to Nike and established a chain of health clubs.
Alongside his Olympic responsibilities, Lord Coe is Vice President of the IAAF and sits on the committee bidding for England to host the World Cup in 2018. He was named the 'Greatest Briton' in the first Morgan Stanley Awards.
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EXTRACT FROM JLA SPEAKERSBREAKFAST
by Seb Coe
In any team I have been part of, I have tried to get across that we have to be bold - to do things differently, be optimistic and take some risks.
After the European Championships in Prague, we reviewed everything, regrouped and made some changes. We were roundly criticized for bringing a physiologist onto the team. Back then people thought this was voodoo science - people told me I would be better off doing another 10 miles more on the road. One year later, I completed the third of my three records in 41 days. How did I do it? By simply not doing it the way it had been done before.
People who make the error of linking winning and losing to success and failure do not understand the fundamentals of human nature. If it were only about winning and losing you would have 29,999 very unhappy people crossing the finish line of the London Marathon. It's not just about the elite who win the race, it's about the person taking part who two years ago hardly dared to think they could fetch a newspaper without getting in the car.
