The Battle of Britain

The two surpassing middle-distance runners from Britain had met in a race only once before, in Prague two years ago. They burned each other out and were passed in the stretch by another competitor. After that, Steve Ovett, 24, and Sebastian Coe, 23, scrupulously avoided each other, both on the track and at public gatherings. "It would be too embarrassing," explained Ovett. "People would ask who was the better runner, who would beat the other."

The first part of their long-awaited showdown finally took place last Saturday in the cool evening air of Moscow's Lenin Stadium. In something of an upset, Ovett roared past Nikolai Kirov of the Soviet Union in the final curve, held off Coe in the stretch, and won the gold medal in the 800 meters. The winning time of 1:45.4 was a full 3 sec. slower than Coe's world record. That pace favored Ovett's driving, elbowing style. "I'm a competitor," he said beforehand. "I like to beat the other people in the same race."

Coe, an extraverted university graduate from Sheffield, is the darling of the British sporting press. He was favored to win the 800, just as Ovett has been considered the likely winner of their next confrontation in this week's 1,500 meters. Approaching the final turn in last week's 800 meters, Coe was gliding right behind the leaders, poised to floor the accelerator in the stretch. But he waited too long. Ovett pulled into the lead and kept it with a punishing kick of his own. Coe, who also owns the world record in the 1,000 meters and shares the 1,500-meter mark with Ovett, likes to concentrate on the clock rather than the competition. His lack of head-to-head experience may have cost him against Ovett, a superior strategist. "My idea was to do what everybody else was going to do, but do it a bit quicker," Coe said later. "I don't remember any mistakes, but there was a fair amount of pushing. I felt a lot of pressure from a lot of people in the race." Asked about his rival, Coe would only say: "Well, the guy just won."

Ovett, a onetime art student from the seaside resort of Brighton, trains obsessively, running as much as 160 miles a week, compared with Coe's 50 to 70. Before the Olympics, Ovett downplayed the 800-meter contest. Said he: "I'm in the 800 because I'm in Moscow and I do want to win it. But the race is over too quickly for me." Even so, the cocky, sometimes surly mile record holder gave himself a 50% chance of winning. What is worse, at least from Coe's standpoint, is that he has upped his self-determined odds to 90% at the longer distance, where he has won 43 straight races. Said Ovett: "The 1,500 is the one I'm really prepared for. It's the one I want. Steve Ovett is a miler."

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