Sebastian Coe - Speaker

Record-breaking athlete and double Olympic gold medallist, Sebastian Coe is one of the UK’s most celebrated and respected sportsmen. As a former athlete, Lord Coe was famed for his election in 2012 as chairman of the British Olympic Association and is also president of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF). Coe continues to make history, being recently unanimously re-elected as IAAF president in 2019, owing to his life passion for the industry.

Lord Coe began his athletics career at the age of 12, proving himself as an athlete to be taken seriously when he won the 800m sprint at the European Indoor Championship. He has since left a legacy of eight world records behind him, making three world records in just 41 days in 1979. Coe’s widely publicised competitive rivalry with Steve Ovett, a fellow British track athlete, kept the public on the edge of their seats for much of 1980’s. As well as firmly establishing himself as a world-renowned athlete, Coe has held several senior positions, including executive chairman of CSM sports & entertainment marketing agency.

The four-time Olympic medallist has proven is talents on and off the track; Coe entered politics in 1992 when he was elected as a Conservative member of Parliament for Falmouth and Camborne, some years later he was elevated to the House of Lords and created a life peer in 2000. Coe has received recognition for his impressive career; he was made OBE in 1991, as well as KBE in 2006. In the same year that he was made chair of the British Olympic Association, Coe won the Lifetime Achievement award at BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Coe studied at the university of Loughborough and in 2012, was appointed Pro-Chancellor of the university.