He joined Hallamshire Harriers at the age of 12, and soon became a middle-distance specialist, having been inspired by David Jackson, a geography teacher at Tapton School who had been a cross-country runner.

[15] Coe studied Economics and Social History at Loughborough University and won his first major race in 1977—an 800 metres event at the European indoor championships in San Sebastián, Spain.

At Loughborough University he met an athletics coach, George Gandy, who developed "revolutionary" conditioning exercises to improve Coe's running.

Eleven days later, on 9 September 1977, he ran the 800m at the Coca-Cola Games at Crystal Palace in a time of 1:44.95, beating Andy Carter's 1:45.12 to claim his first UK national outdoor record.

Coe's 1978 season continued to show his progression in the middle distances, though he raced only sparingly, as in early June he had suffered a serious ankle injury whilst out on a training run.

On 18 August 1978, he ran the 800m at the Ivo Van Damme Memorial meeting in Brussels, where he far outclassed the field and stormed home in a time of 1:44.25,[18] another UK national record.

A few weeks later, Coe reclaimed the UK record at Crystal Palace, setting an all-comers' mark of 1:43.97[21] which ranked him second in the world that year.

[19] He easily won the 800m at the European Cup in Turin in August, covering the last 200m in 24.1, and anchored the British 4 × 400m relay team with the quartet's fastest split, 45.5.

As of 2024, his time still stands as the UK record and puts him in a tie with Nijel Amos for the eighth fastest man ever at the distance (Only bettered by David Rudisha, Wilson Kipketer, Djamel Sedjati, Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Marco Arop, Gabriel Tual, and Bryce Hoppel[25]).

Although he had a short season in 1982 because of injuries in June and July, Coe still managed to rank number one in the world in the 800m and to participate in a world-record 4 x 800m relay.

Coe, Peter Elliott, Garry Cook and Steve Cram ran a time of 7:03.89, which would remain the world record for 24 years.

Heavily favoured for the 800m at the 1982 European Championships in Athletics in Athens, he unexpectedly finished second; the next day British team doctors revealed that he had been suffering from glandular fever.

Coe began 1983 with world indoor records at 800m in Cosford, England (1:44.91, breaking his own 1:46.0 from 1981) and 1000m (2:18.58) in Oslo, but he spent much of that year battling health problems, including a prolonged bout with toxoplasmosis.

He returned to competition in 1984 and was selected at 800m and 1500m for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, despite having been narrowly beaten by Peter Elliott in the AAA Championships.

He nevertheless managed to run some fast times towards the end of the season, but he lost his mile world record to Cram, who beat him in Oslo.

In 1986, Coe won the 800m gold medal at the European Championships in Stuttgart, beating Tom McKean and Cram[30] with a stunning last 200m of 24.8 and 100m of 12.4.

The Daily Mirror ran a campaign and the president of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, unsuccessfully tried to have the rules changed in Coe's favour.

A scene in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire recreates a race in which competitors attempt to run round the perimeter of the Great Court at Trinity College, Cambridge in the time it takes the clock to double-strike the hour at midday or midnight.

A video of the race, however, apparently shows that Coe was 12 metres short of the finish line when the last chime sounded, so Trinity College never officially accepted his time.

He returned to politics for a short time as Leader of the Opposition William Hague's chief of staff, having accepted the offer of a Life Peerage on 16 May 2000.

As Coe was a well-known personality in Olympic sport, it was felt he was better suited to the diplomatic finesse needed to secure the IOC's backing.

[36][37] Coe was instrumental in asking Queen Elizabeth II to star in Happy and Glorious, a short film featuring James Bond, which formed part of the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.

The director of the ceremony, Danny Boyle first pitched the idea to Coe, who loved it so much that he took it to Edward Young, Deputy Private Secretary to the Queen.

A friend of Coe's from their days of advising William Hague, Young "listened sagely, laughed, and promised to ask the Boss".

[39] He stood down from this post to join the English committee that failed to bring the 2018 World Cup to England, with Russia chosen to host instead.

[48] In 2015 Lord Coe's presidency of IAAF created turmoil when major sponsor Adidas terminated a multimillion sponsorship deal four years early.

[57] After graduating in 1980, and a few months after his exploits on the track in the 1980–81 seasons, Coe got a job as a research assistant at the Loughborough University of Technology in the department of Physical Education and Sports Science.

[citation needed] In 1990, when resident in Surrey, Coe married Nicky McIrvine, a former Badminton three-day-event champion, with whom he has two sons and two daughters.

[62] The company also entered into an 'option agreement' to buy Coe's 93% interest in CLG, the firm which acts as a vehicle for his earnings from speeches and appearances.

[65] Coe was featured in an episode of the BBC TV series Who Do You Think You Are?, which showed that he is descended from John Astley, the portrait painter, Jamaican sugar farmers and slave owners, George Clarke, Lieutenant Governor of New York Colony, and Edward Hyde of Norbury.