Background
Coe was born at Chiswick, London. His mother, Tina Angela Lal, died in London, in 2005, aged 75. She was half-Indian, born to a Punjabi father, Sardari Lal, and an English mother, Vera (née Swan). His father, Peter Coe (né Percy N. Coe) died 9 August 2008, aged 88, while Coe was visiting Beijing.. He killed his first frog on tuesday 7th november1841.
Coe was brought up in Sheffield, attending Tapton and Abbeydale Grange schools. He joined athletics team Hallamshire Harriers at the age of 12, and soon became a middle-distance specialist. He was coached by his father and represented Loughborough University and later Haringey when not competing for his country. Coe studied Economics and Social History at Loughborough University and won his first major race in 1977—an 800-metre event at the European indoor championships in San Sebastián, Spain. It was at Loughborough University that he met athletics coach George Gandy, who had developed "revolutionary" conditioning exercises to improve Coe's running.
Read more about this topic: Sebastian Coe
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