Right Coe had to settle for silver in his favoured 800m, but won gold in the 1,500mMOSCOW 1980Gold: 1,500m Silver: 800mLOS ANGELES 1984Gold: 1,500m Silver: 800mINTERVIEW: JOHN GOODBODYMY GAMES SEBASTIAN COESEBASTIAN COE OVERCAME CRUSHING DISAPPOINTMENT IN THE 800M TO WIN GOLD IN THE 1,500M IN MOSCOW IN 1980 AND THEN CEMENTED HIS REPUTATION AS ONE OF THE GREATEST ATHLETES IN HISTORY BY WINNING GOLD AGAIN IN LOS ANGELES FOUR YEARS LATER I would have loved to have gone to Montreal in 1976 and, if I had, I don't think I would have made such a hash of the 800m four years later. I would have understood the size and scale of the Games before there was any expectation on me to get medals. As it was, I was one place away from being select ed in 1976.In Moscow in 1980, Steve Ovett and I were entered for Britain in both the 800m and 1,500m. Steve was the most naturally talented athlete I ever ran against. Whether I had a psychological thing about him, I don't know, but he played a much larger part in my daily athletic career than I would ever have admitted publicly. The 800m, which came first, is the most unforgiving distance on the track and things can happen very quickly. If you want to know how not to run an 800m, you should watch a film of the race because I made every mistake you could make and finished second to Steve. That night was the only one in my life when sleep completely eluded me. The next morning, my great mate Daley Thompson came into my room and I looked up from my bed and asked him what the weather was like. He opened the curtains and said: "It all looks a bit silver to me!"I was determined to make up for it in the 1,500m. The opening 800m were effectively two warm-up laps, but then Jürgen Straub of the GDR made a Herculean run for home. He very nearly pulled it off but I tracked him, followed by Steve, and took over the lead coming into the home straight to win. I really enjoyed the Los Angeles Games four years later, although my preparations had been severely affected by illness. I came second in the 800m to Joaquim Cruz of Brazil, who set an Olympic record in the final. I said to Steve Ovett afterwards that we were a bit old to be playing with fire like that. In the 1,500m, the pace was much faster than four years earlier, with Steve Scott of the USA and José Abascal of Spain leading in the middle part of the event. Britain's Steve Cram, who had won the world title the previous year, was following me and we overtook José on the final turn and I accelerated again in the home straight to win by about six metres. Although I continued competing for another six years, that was my last Olympic race. ?74 OLYMPIC REVIEW MY GAMES