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Medal record
Men's Athletics
Olympic Games
Gold	1980 Moscow	800 m
Bronze	1980 Moscow	1500 m
European Championships
Gold	1978 Prague	1500 m
Silver	1974 Rome	800 m
Silver	1978 Prague	800 m
Commonwealth Games
Competitor for England
Gold	1986 Edinburgh	5000 m

Stephen Michael James ("Steve") Ovett (born October 9, 1955), is an English middle distance runner and gold medalist in the 800 m at the 1980 Olympics.

Born in Brighton and educated at Varndean Grammar School, Steve Ovett was an outstandingly talented teenage athlete. His first major title came in 1973 when he won the European junior 800 m, followed the next year in Rome with a silver in the senior event. He won AAA titles in the 800 m from 1974 to 1976, in the 1500 m in 1979 and in the mile in 1980.

Ovett gained some Olympic experience in 1976 when he ran in the final of the 800 m and was placed fifth. He jumped into the world spotlight in 1977 when at the inaugural IAAF World Cup in Athletics he kicked past Olympic 1500 meter champion John Walker to win the gold. At the European Championships in 1978, he won gold in the 1500 m and silver in the 800 m.

The 1978 season for Ovett was notable for the superb times recorded at disparate distances. He ran an 800m in 1:44.09 ( world record at the time was Alberto Juantorena's 1:43.44 ) & set a 2 Mile world's best with a 8:13.51 clocking, (an event the IAAF no longer recognized for record purposes), handing Track & Field News Athlete of the Year Henry Rono one of his few losses in his remarkable record breaking season. It's been speculated that if he'd spent that season preparing specifically & repeatedly attempting to run fast times in pacemaker led Grand Prix races, he was capable of breaking the 1000m, 1500m, 1 Mile & 2000m world records that year based on his 800m & 2 Mile times.

Ovett arrived at the Moscow Olympics as most people's favourite to take the 1500 m title. Earlier that month, he had established a new mile world record of 3:48.8 and two weeks later equalled Sebastian Coe's world record of 3:32.1 in the 1500 m. He had been unbeaten over the 1500 m and mile for three years. The Moscow Olympics marked only the second time that Ovett and Coe had met each other in international competition (the first being the 800m in the 1978 European Championships where Ovett won the silver ahead of Coe, who came third) and there was great speculation over which would emerge as the greater.

Ovett's participation in the 800 m would serve as a test for the 1500 m. In the 800 m final, Ovett was only in sixth place at the halfway mark, but pushed his way through the crowd to second place. Seventy metres from the finish, he shot into the lead and held off Coe to win by three metres. In the 1500 m, contested six days later, it was Coe who came from behind to win, while Ovett had to settle for third place.

Though in 1980 Ovett had tied Coe's 1500 m world record of 3:32.1, new timing rules would come into effect in 1981 which would recognize records over 400 m to the hundredth of a second. This would have the effect of giving Coe sole possession of the record, as Coe ran 3:32.03 to Ovett's 3:32.09. However, Ovett avoiding this unusual removal of a record via rule change by setting a new record later in 1980 of 3:31.36. In 1983, shortly after Sydney Maree had broken that record, Ovett lowered it further to 3:30.77.

Ovett's 1982 season was wrecked by injury when out training on the streets of Brighton he ran into some railings and badly twisted his knee.

Ovett attempted to defend his 800 m title in the 1984 Summer Olympics. Battling with bronchitis, he barely qualified for the final and then finished eighth, after which he collapsed and spent two nights in a hospital. He returned to compete in the 1500 m. Running in fourth place at the beginning of the last lap of the final, Ovett collapsed with chest pains and was taken away on a stretcher.

In 1986 he won the 5000 m in the Commonwealth Games at Edinburgh. He failed to make the 1988 Olympic team and retired in 1991, a year after Sebastian Coe. He has been a Track & Field television commentator for the CBC since 1992.

His times, though still impressive by today's standards, are arguably not indicative of his true talent as he preferred winning races to chasing after world records (though on occasion he did do the latter). He was often content to wait on the shoulder of the leader until either the last 100 or 200 metres at which point he would usually sprint past for victory. Nevertheless, the times he recorded over a wide range of distances was quite impressive, showing great versatility. They ranged from 47.5 and 1:44.09 in the 400/800 meters to 13:20.06 for 5000 meters on the track, while on the roads he ran 22:24 for 8k (Oxford, 1986), 28:16 for 10K (London, 1983), and 1:05 for the half marathon (Dartford, 1977).

As a youngster Steve showed great promise as a footballer but gave it up for athletics because he didn't want to do a sport where he would have to rely on team mates.

Steve's brother, Nicholas Ovett, represented Great Britain at luge in the Winter Olympics of 1988 and 1992.

Distance	Mark	Date
400 m	47.5	1974
800 m	1:44.09	1978
1000 m	2:16.0	1979
1500 m	3:30.77	1983
Mile	3:48.40	1980
2000 m	4:57.71	1982
3000 m	7:41.3	1977
2 Miles	8:13.51	1978
5000 m	13:20.06	1986

Olympic champions in men's 800 m

1896: Teddy Flack | 1900: Alfred Tysoe | 1904: Jim Lightbody | 1906: Paul Pilgrim | 1908: Mel Sheppard | 1912: Ted Meredith | 1920: Albert Hill | 1924: Douglas Lowe | 1928: Douglas Lowe | 1932: Thomas Hampson | 1936: John Woodruff | 1948: Mal Whitfield | 1952: Mal Whitfield | 1956: Tom Courtney | 1960: Peter Snell | 1964: Peter Snell | 1968: Ralph Doubell | 1972: Dave Wottle | 1976: Alberto Juantorena | 1980: Steve Ovett | 1984: Joaquim Cruz | 1988: Paul Ereng | 1992: William Tanui | 1996: Vebjørn Rodal | 2000: Nils Schumann | 2004: Yuriy Borzakovskiy

Post-war British Olympic champions in men's athletics

1956: Chris Brasher (3000 m steeplechase) | 1960: Don Thompson (50 km walk) | 1964: Ken Matthews (20 km walk) | 1964: Lynn Davies (long jump) | 1968: David Hemery (400 m hurdles) 1980: Allan Wells (100 m) | 1980: Steve Ovett (800 m) | 1980 & 1984: Sebastian Coe (1500 m) | 1980 & 1984: Daley Thompson (decathlon) | 1992: Linford Christie (100 m) | 2000: Jonathan Edwards (triple jump) | 2004: Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish & Mark Lewis-Francis (4 x 100 m relay)

Preceded by Virginia Wade

BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1978

Succeeded by Sebastian Coe

Butcher, Pat (2005). The Perfect Distance: Ovett and Coe - The Record Breaking Rivalry. Phoenix Press. 0753819007.