Former 1,500 metres and mile world record holder and 1980 800 metres Olympic gold medallist Steve Ovett has some communication problems. Ovett's eight-year-old daughter Alexandra came home from school recently with a perplexed look on her face and approached her father.

"Daddy, one of the girls in my class says you won an Olympic medal. That's not right, is it?" she said. "She was in a state of shock," said the runner. "Mind you, all of them (he has three other younger children) have spent enough time running around with my Olympic medals on."

Nor have Ovett's kids ever seen any videos of Ovett's glory days. "Honestly, I don't have a single video of any of my races. Why should I? I don't see the point of looking back." Could we say the same about his great rival, the current Tory politician Sebastian Coe?