In a little, unassuming trattoria at the shabbier end of London's King's Road, I am waiting for one of Britain's greatest athletic legends. The man who won Olympic Gold for the 1500m in Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984, and who set eight outdoor and three indoor world records in middle-distance running: Lord Sebastian Coe, as he is now. Today he is better known for spearheading the triumphant campaign that six years ago won the Olympic bid for the capital. Coe hurries in from a blustery, London afternoon. At 54, he still looks lean and fit and immediately tears off his tie and rolls up his sleeves as if he is about to rush out onto an athletics track. We're in one of Coe's favourite haunts, L'Antico in Chelsea, and he is pleased to have a break: as chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, his schedule would make the prime minister quail. 'You should see his diary — it's horrendous,' grumbles an aide, who has come along with him.
Coe is ultimately responsible for ensuring London lives up to the expectations of the thousands of visitors set to descend on the city in 2012. For a man carrying such a weighty responsibility, Coe is calm, confident and fired up with a passionate love of the capital. 'London is a joy to promote. It's a hugely diverse, creative, youthful city and home to so many nationalities. Most of the visiting teams are going to find they already have a home crowd ready to cheer them on right here,' he enthuses.
So what does the man tasked with selling our capital city to the world like most about London? I quickly learn the modest café where we've met is exactly the unpretentious, family-run place that Coe enjoys visiting. 'I was born about a mile away from here in Chiswick and my grandparents and father were brought up in Fulham. I've been coming here for 30 years and I love the familiarity of the place,' he explains. 'Though I grew up in the Midlands and then Sheffield, I think of myself as a west London boy at heart. I might go round the corner occasionally to the bigger La Famiglia to eat, but generally I don't really stray.'
Coe's family have been Chelsea Football Club fans for 80 years, and when Coe was eight his father and uncle took him to his first match, where he watched the Blues beat Arsenal 2-1. Now he takes his four children, girls aged 18 and 12 and boys aged 16 and 15, to watch his team. L'Antico has the advantage of being a minute away from Chelsea's ground at Stamford Bridge, so it has become a traditional place for the family to meet before a match: 'We gather here and, out of superstition, I always eat penne all'arrabiata with a massive salad. If I do that, Chelsea win. Afterwards, we come back here and spend an hour or two mulling over the game.'
Coe's other passion is jazz. 'I adore jazz, especially from the 1940s and 1950s — Charlie Parker, Johnny Hodges and Lester Young. No night out in London would be complete without a visit to 606 on Lots Road, the best jazz club this side of Greenwich Village,' he enthuses. 'On my 50th birthday I turned up at 606 after a long, hard day. I was rather grumpy as I found it was shut for a private party. When I put my head round the door to say hello to Steve Rubie, the owner, there were 150 of my best friends shouting, "Surprise!" Sometimes, if I'm in the West End, I pop into Claridge's Hotel around six o'clock. They have jazz trios in the lobby.'
