The World Athletics president and double Olympic champion shares which athletics moments he would like to relive during a fantasy season

With no live sporting action to watch right now, as postponements and cancellations continue due to the coronavirus pandemic, many fans are turning to footage of some of their favourite athletics occasions from the past.

Here World Athletics president and double Olympic 1500m champion Seb Coe shares which athletics moments he would most like to relive during a fantasy season.

READ MORE: Seb Coe would relish chance to target 2022 treble

“I have seen some wonderful athletics in my life”

“I have been very lucky because I have seen some wonderful athletics in my life which is not surprising, I have been around a long time,” Coe tells AW.

“If you said to me ‘what is your box set of five great races, what would you watch?’ Then I am almost spoilt for choice.

“I am a middle-distance, endurance man, so I’ll settle for some of those.”

When in Rome

“I think Herb Elliott’s 1960 (1500m Olympic) win in Rome, where he broke the world record and ran from gun to tape, beating one of the world’s great milers, Michel Jazy, with the largest distance a 1500m has been won in.

“I am slightly biased, Herb is a good friend of mine.”

Sydney sensations

“I was also very privileged to be in the stadium in Sydney in 2000 watching probably the most exciting 10,000m race I have ever seen which was Haile Gebrselassie and Paul Tergat (pictured, top), where the lead changed four times in the finishing straight.

“Gebrselassie beat Tergat in a tighter margin than Maurice Greene won the 100m.

“If I stick with Sydney, talk about home town pressure, Cathy Freeman winning the 400m.

“I was in the commentary box for Channel Seven and the great Bruce McAvaney did one of his great classic commentaries. I was sitting next to the great Raelene Boyle and at the end of the race, Bruce McAvaney was going ‘what a performer, what an athlete, what an Australian’ and Raelene Boyle grabbed the microphone and went ‘what a relief!’ I think most people in Australia felt that.”

Super Saturday

“I loved Hicham El Guerrouj’s double in Athens in the 1500m and the 5000m, when he was really so much at the top of his game, and I feel really privileged to have seen Usain Bolt at his very best.

“I’m just talking about five great fantasy moments. If I had my night in front of the television that is probably what I would drift to and I guess, given that I felt some pride in being a part of the team that choreographed it, Super Saturday in London (2012 Olympics) with Jess (Ennis-Hill), Greg (Rutherford) and Mo (Farah), wearing a British hat for a moment.

“But hey, where else? I mean there are so many other places I could go.”