Britain's Queen Elizabeth (2nd R), Prince Philip (C), LOCOG Chairman Sebastian Coe (R) and Olympic torch bearer Gina Macgregor (2nd L) watch as torchbearer Phil Wells takes the Olympic Flame at Windsor Castle, London. — Reuters PETERBOROUGH, England – Sebastian Coe strides onto the outdoor stage like a rock star. With music blaring, cameras clicking and flags waving, he's introduced to the cheering crowd as “the man who is making this all happen.” The Olympic torch relay has come to this cathedral city in eastern England and the locals are out in force on a muggy, drizzly evening to welcome the flame — and the former middle-distance running great who is the face of the London Games. “Look at this turnout!” Coe says to the adoring audience. “I'm not surprised. We get Olympic sport. We have a great Olympic history. It's a dream scenario.” The fans roar, the flame burns brightly and the Olympic party goes on into the night. For Coe, it's the end of a long, grueling round of meetings, speeches and appearances, a day spent traveling by car, Underground and train in his tireless mission to deliver a spectacular 2012 Olympics. His drive to build up Olympic fever seems to be working. “Everywhere I go, people say they can't wait for it to start,” Coe tells, sipping tea from a takeaway cup as he rides the train from Peterborough through the English countryside back to London's King Cross station. “They have now grasped the complexity of it. Overwhelmingly, they want us to succeed. They're not agnostic now. “There are not too many people who are going to sit this dance out.” No one is more closely associated with the London Games than Coe, the former two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 1,500 meters. He led the city's winning bid for the Olympics and has spent seven years chairing the local organizing committee for the biggest peacetime project in British history. Everywhere Coe goes on this day, people of all ages and walks of life approach him, shake his hand, pose for photos, ask for his autograph, thank him and wish him luck. One woman tells him: “We pray for you every night.” A generation of Britons remember Coe's famous duels on the track in the 1970s and ‘80s with Steve Ovett and Steve Cram, but now he's a household name as the man in charge of putting on the world's biggest sporting event. Many well wishers call him “Lord Coe,” the title he carries as a member of the House of Lords. Others just call him “Seb.” The 55-year-old Coe is still wiry and razor thin. Apart from a tinge of gray in his hair, he doesn't look much different from the lithe young runner who won gold in Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984 and broke more than a dozen world records. He still runs every other day and lifts weights twice a week. “I did try my L.A. blazer on the other day,” Coe says. “It was marginally snugger than it was in ‘84, but it does fit.” Coe has traveled millions of miles around the world to promote the games in London, the first city to host the event a third time after previous games in 1908 and 1948. His focus now is to rally his home country fully behind the effort. With the torch relay drawing large crowds wherever it goes, the fervor should peak when the flame reaches London on July 20. “By nature Britain is a slow-burn country,” Coe says. “It's now burning. When that torch gets to London streets it's going to be massive.” And it's that party atmosphere that Coe hopes will last throughout the games and set London apart. “I think London's going to rock,” he says. “I don't think there's going to be a lot of sleep in London.” — AP
