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Stephen Michael James "Steve" Ovett OBE (born 9 October 1955), is a former middle distance runner from England.
He was gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow and set world records for 1,500 metres and the mile run. To this day, he holds the UK record for the two miles, which he set in 1978.
His first major athletics title came in 1973, when he won the European junior 800m, followed the next year in Rome with a silver in the senior event.
He won AAA titles in the 800m from 1974 to 1976, in the 1500m in 1979 and in the mile in 1980.
At age 18, he won the silver medal at 800 met
Stephen Michael James "Steve" Ovett OBE (born 9 October 1955), is a former middle distance runner from England.
He was gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow and set world records for 1,500 metres and the mile run. To this day, he holds the UK record for the two miles, which he set in 1978.
His first major athletics title came in 1973, when he won the European junior 800m, followed the next year in Rome with a silver in the senior event.
He won AAA titles in the 800m from 1974 to 1976, in the 1500m in 1979 and in the mile in 1980.
At age 18, he won the silver medal at 800 metres in the 1974 European Athletics Championships, setting a new European Junior 800m record of 1:45.77 in the process.
He gained prominence in 1977 when, at the inaugural IAAF World Cup in Athletics, he commenced a "kick" with 200m to go, running the final turn in 11.8 s and the last 200m in 25.1 s. He left Olympic 1500-metres-champion John Walker, and the rest of the field behind. Ovett's time of 3:34.45 was a British Record.
He gained prominence in 1977 when, at the inaugural IAAF World Cup in Athletics, he commenced a "kick" with 200m to go, running the final turn in 11.8 s and the last 200m in 25.1 s. He left Olympic 1500-metres-champion John Walker, and the rest of the field behind. Ovett's time of 3:34.45 was a British Record.
Ovett won the gold medal in the 1,500m at the European Championships in 1978.
Ovett arrived at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as favourite to take the 1,500m title, unbeaten over the 1,500m and mile for three years. Earlier that month, he had established a new mile world record of 3:48.8 and two weeks later equalled Sebastian Coe's world record of 3:32.1 in the 1,500m.
The Moscow Olympics marked only the second time that Ovett and Coe had met each other in international competition (the first being the 800m in the 1978 European Championships) and there was huge media speculation over which would emerge as the greater.
Ovett's participation in the 800m would serve as a test for the 1,500m. In the 800m final, Ovett was only in sixth place at the halfway mark but pushed his way through the crowd to second place. Seventy metres from the finish, he shot into the lead and held off Coe to win by three metres.
In the 1,500m, contested six days later, Coe won and Ovett had to settle for third place. More specifically, Ovett ran behind Coe's shoulder for quite a long time but on the final bend he fell two metres behind Coe and failed to close the gap in the home straight.
During 1981, both Ovett and Coe were at their peak. They didn't meet in a race that year but exchanged world records in the mile three times during a 10-day period.
His final notable victory was in August 1986 when he won the 5,000m in the Commonwealth Games at Edinburgh.
Ovett was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1978. He was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 1982 and an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000.
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