‘Chariots of Fire' runner connects with IOC candidate Coe through England's Olympic history
The previous candidate lost his election — in 1952 — yet his Olympic achievements spanned the 1920s to the 1980s, including 48 years as a member of the International Olympic Committee.
David Burghley ran at the 1924 Paris Olympics and was portrayed in the Oscar-winning movie of the games, Chariots of Fire, and in 1968 he presented medals to Tommie Smith and John Carlos seconds before their iconic raised-fist salutes on the podium in Mexico City.
Burghley also presented a gold medal to Coe at the 1980 Moscow Olympics when a then 23-year-old track star won the first of back-to-back titles in the 1,500 meters.
'He is a large figure in my life,' Coe said last week before traveling to Greece for the IOC election. 'When I was forging my career we met on a couple of occasions.'
The overlap between their respective careers is almost comprehensive.
Olympic champion runners. World record holders. Elected members of the British parliament. Organizers of a London Olympics. Presidents of track and field's world governing body.
IOC presidential candidate
Burghley ran to lead the Olympic body against Avery Brundage of the United States in 1952 in Helsinki. Brundage won a 30-17 vote to become the first, and still only, IOC leader from outside Europe.
In 1964, the English aristocrat who had inherited the title of 6th Marquess of Exeter challenged Brundage again in Rome though withdrew before a unanimous vote for the American.
Organizing an Olympics
Burghley had been elected to lead the world track body then known as the IAAF in 1946 and two years later had overseen organizing the first post-World War II Olympics in London.
When the Summer Games returned to London 66 years later, it was because Coe had led the bid to an unexpected win — edging out Paris — then led the project through the entire next seven years.
Coe said the commemorative Olympic torch he was given from London was later gifted to his predecessor.
'That sits in the Olympic museum at Burghley House,' he said. 'His family I'm very close to still.'
Olympic medals
The 16th century stately home about 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of London is home to Burghley's memorabilia including his 400-meter hurdles gold medal from the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics.
Burghley, the 'Leaping Lord,' had run in the 110 hurdles at Paris where his British teammates Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell won the 100 and 400, respectively. Burghley was depicted in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire as the character Lord Lindsay.
In 1932, Burghley took silver for Britain in the 4x400 relay in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum where 52 years later Coe won his second 1,500 title.
Final lap
Their paths would cross at one more Olympic gathering after Moscow, at the 1981 Congress in West Germany, were Coe was among the pioneering athlete representatives.
They exchanged 'passing pleasantries,' Coe recalled last week, back then in Baden-Baden where Burghley was made an IOC honorary vice president weeks before his death aged 76.
Near the site of Ancient Olympia this week, Coe aims to ascend one step higher than perhaps the most eminent of English Olympians to go before him.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
37 minutes ago
- CNBC
U.S. spy chief Gabbard says UK agreed to drop 'back door' mandate for Apple
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on Monday the U.K. had agreed to drop its mandate for iPhone maker Apple to provide a "back door" that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens. Gabbard issued the statement on X, saying she had worked for months with Britain, along with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance to arrive at a deal. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was in Washington on Monday along with other European leaders to meet Trump and discuss Russia's war in Ukraine. The U.K. government and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Gabbard's statement. U.S. lawmakers said in May that the U.K.'s order to Apple to create a backdoor to its encrypted user data could be exploited by cybercriminals and authoritarian governments. Apple, which has said it would never build a so-called back door into its encrypted services or devices, had challenged the order at the U.K.'s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT). The iPhone maker withdrew its Advanced Data Protection feature for U.K. users in February following the U.K. order. Users of Apple's iPhones, Macs and other devices can enable the feature to ensure that only they — and not even Apple — can unlock data stored on its cloud. U.S. officials said earlier this year they were examining whether the U.K. broke a bilateral agreement by demanding that Apple build a backdoor allowing the British government to access backups of data in the company's encrypted cloud storage systems. In a letter dated February 25 to U.S. lawmakers, Gabbard said the U.S. was examining whether the U.K. government had violated the CLOUD Act, which bars it from issuing demands for the data of U.S. citizens and vice versa. Cybersecurity experts told Reuters that if Apple chose to build a backdoor for a government, that backdoor would eventually be found and exploited by hackers. Apple has sparred with regulators over encryption as far back as 2016 when the U.S. government tried to compel it to build a tool to unlock the iPhone of a suspected extremist.
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Goalie Brady Knowling Says Hlinka Gretzky Cup Win ‘A Good Stepping Stone' For U-18 Worlds
The last line of defense for the USA at the recently completed 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup was goaltender Brady Knowling, who played four of the team's five games, compliling a goals-against average of 2.35 and a save percentage of .866.
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
Former coach at renowned Iowa-based gymnastics academy arrested by FBI
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The U.S. gymnastics world was only just recovering from a devastating sexual abuse scandal when a promising young coach moved from Mississippi to Iowa to take a job in 2018 at an elite academy known for training Olympic champions. Liang 'Chow' Qiao, the owner of Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, thought highly enough of his new hire, Sean Gardner, to put him in charge of the club's premier junior event and to coach some of its most promising girls. But four years later, Gardner was gone from Chow's with little notice. USA Gymnastics, the organization rocked by the Larry Nassar sex-abuse crisis that led to the creation of the U.S. Center for SafeSport, had been informed by the watchdog group that Gardner was suspended from all contact with gymnasts. The reason for Gardner's removal wasn't disclosed. But court records obtained exclusively by The Associated Press show the coach was accused of sexually abusing at least three young gymnasts at Chow's and secretly recording others undressing in a gym bathroom at his prior job in Mississippi. Last week, more than three years after being suspended from coaching, the FBI arrested Gardner, 38, on a federal child pornography charge. But his disciplinary case has still not been resolved by SafeSport, which handles sex-abuse cases in Olympic sports. In cases like Gardner's, the public can be in the dark for years while SafeSport investigates and sanctions coaches. SafeSport requires that allegations be reported to police to ensure abusers don't run unchecked outside of sports, but critics say the system is a slow, murky process. 'From an outward operational view, it seems that if SafeSport is involved in any way, the situation turns glow-in-the-dark toxic,' said attorney Steve Silvey, a longtime SafeSport critic who has represented people in cases involving the center. While acknowledging there can be delays as its investigations unfold, SafeSport defended its temporary suspensions in a statement as 'a unique and valuable intervention' when there are concerns of a risk to others. Nevertheless, in 2024, Gardner was able to land a job helping care for surgical patients at an Iowa hospital — two years after the abuse allegations against him were reported to SafeSport and the police. And it was not until late May that West Des Moines police executed a search warrant at his home, eventually leading to the recovery of a trove of photos and videos on his computer and cellphone of nude young girls, court records show. Authorities in Iowa sealed the court documents after the AP asked about the investigation earlier this month, before details of the federal charge were made public Friday. Gardner, Qiao and Gardner's former employer in Mississippi did not respond to AP requests for comment. Chow's Gymnastics is best known as the academy where U.S. gymnasts Shawn Johnson and Gabby Douglas trained before becoming gold medalists at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Qiao opened the gym in 1998 after starring on the Chinese national team and moving to the United States to coach at the University of Iowa. The gym became a draw for top youth gymnasts, with some families moving to Iowa to train there. Gardner moved to Iowa in September 2018, jumping at the opportunity to coach under Qiao. 'This is the job that I've always wanted. Chow is really someone I have looked up to since I've been coaching,' Gardner told the ABC affiliate WOI-TV in 2019. 'And you can tell when you step foot in the gym, just even from coaching the girls, the culture that he's built. It's amazing. It's beautiful.' A year later, Gardner was promoted to director of Chow's Winter Classic, an annual meet that draws more than 1,000 gymnasts to Iowa. He also coached a junior Olympics team during his four-year tenure at Chow's. Several of his students earned college gymnastics scholarships, but Gardner said he had bigger goals. 'You want to leave a thumbprint on their life, so when they go off hopefully to school, to bigger and better things, that they remember Chow's as family,' he said in a 2020 interview with WOI-TV. Gardner is accused of abusing his position at Chow's and his former job at Jump'In Gymnastics in Mississippi to prey on girls under his tutelage, according to a nine-page FBI affidavit released Friday that summarizes the allegations against him. A girl reported to SafeSport in March 2022 that Gardner used 'inappropriate spotting techniques' in which he would put his hands between her legs and touch her vagina, the affidavit said. It said she alleged Gardner would ask girls if they were sexually active and call them 'idiots, sluts, and whores.' She said this behavior began after his hiring in 2018 and continued until she left the gym in 2020 and provided the names of six other potential victims. SafeSport suspended Gardner in July 2022 — four months after the girl's report — a provisional step it can take in severe cases with 'sufficient evidentiary support' as investigations proceed. A month after that, the center received a report from another girl alleging additional 'sexual contact and physical abuse,' including that Gardner similarly fondled her during workouts, the FBI affidavit said. The girl said that he once dragged her across the carpet so hard that it burned her buttocks, the affidavit said. SafeSport shared the reports with West Des Moines police, in line with its policy requiring adults who interact with youth athletes to disclose potential criminal cases to law enforcement. While SafeSport's suspension took Gardner out of gymnastics, the criminal investigation quickly hit a roadblock. Police records show a detective told SafeSport to urge the alleged victims to file criminal complaints, but only one of their mothers contacted police in 2022. That woman said her daughter did not want to pursue criminal charges, and police suspended the investigation. Victims of abuse are often reluctant to cooperate with police, said Ken Lang, a retired detective and associate professor of criminal justice at Milligan University. 'In this case you have the prestige of this facility,' he said. 'Do they want to associate their name with that, in that way, when their aspirations were to succeed in gymnastics?' Police suspended the investigation, even as Gardner was on probation for his second-offense of driving while intoxicated. The case stayed dormant until April 2024 when another former Chow's student came forward to the West Des Moines Police Department to report abuse allegations, according to a now-sealed affidavit signed by police detective Jeff Lyon. The AP is not identifying the student in line with its policy of not naming victims of alleged sexual abuse. The now 18-year-old told police she began taking lessons from Gardner when she was 11 or 12 in 2019, initially seeing him as a 'father figure' who tried to help her get through her parents' divorce. He told her she could tell him 'anything,' the affidavit said. When she moved in 2021, she told police, he gave her a hug and said she could text and follow him on Instagram and other social media sites, where he went by the nickname 'Coach Seanie,' because gym policy barring such contact no longer applied. According to a summary of her statement provided in Lyon's affidavit, she said Gardner fondled her during exercises, repeatedly touching her vagina; rubbed her back and butt and discussed his sex life; and made her do inappropriate stretches that exposed her privates. She told police she suspected he used his cellphone to film her in that position. Reached by the AP, the teen's mother declined comment. The mother told police she was interested in a monetary settlement with Chow's because the gym 'had been made aware of the complaints and they did nothing to stop them,' according to Lyon's affidavit. The gym didn't return AP messages seeking comment. It took 16 months after the teen's 2024 report for the FBI to arrest Gardner, who made an initial court appearance in Des Moines on Friday on a charge of producing visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, which can carry up to 30 years in prison. A public defender assigned to represent him didn't return AP messages seeking comment. It's unclear why the case took so long to investigate and also when the FBI, which had to pay $138 million to Nassar's victims for botching that investigation, got involved in the case. Among evidence seized by investigators in late May were a cellphone, laptop and a desktop computer along with handwritten notes between Gardner and his former pupils, according to the sealed court documents. They found images of girls, approximately 6 to 14 years in age, who were nude, using the toilet or changing into leotards, those documents show. Those images appear to have come from a hidden camera in a restroom. They also uncovered 50 video files and 400 photos, including some that appeared to be child pornography, according to the FBI affidavit. One video allegedly shows Gardner entering the bathroom and turning off the camera. Investigators also found images of an adult woman secretly filmed entering and exiting a bathtub, and identified her as Gardner's ex-girlfriend. That woman as well as the gym's owner, Candi Workman, told investigators the images appeared to come from Jump'In Gymnastics' facility in Purvis, Miss., which has since been closed. SafeSport has long touted that it can deliver sanctions in cases where criminal charges are not pursued as key to its mission. However, Gardner's ability to land a job in health care illustrates the limits of that power: It can ban people from sports but that sanction is not guaranteed to reach the general public. While not commenting about Gardner's case directly, it said in a statement provided to AP that a number of issues factor into why cases can take so long to close, including the 8,000 reports it receives a year with only around 30 full-time investigators. It has revamped some procedures, it said, in an attempt to become more efficient. 'While the Center is able and often does cooperate in law enforcement investigations,' it said, 'law enforcement is not required to share information, updates, or even confirm an investigation is ongoing.' USA Gymnastics President Li Li Leung called the center's task 'really tough, difficult to navigate.' 'I would like to see more consistency with their outcomes and sanctions,' Leung said. 'I would like to see more standardization on things. I would like to see more communication, more transparency from their side.' As the investigation proceeded, Gardner said on his Facebook page he had landed a new job in May 2024 as a surgical technologist at MercyOne West Des Moines Medical Center. It's a role that calls for positioning patients on the operating room table, and assisting with procedures and post-surgery care. Asked about Gardner's employment, hospital spokesman Todd Mizener told the AP: 'The only information I can provide is that he is no longer' at the hospital. Meanwhile, the case lingers, leaving lives in limbo more than three years after the SafeSport Center and police first learned of it. 'SafeSport is now part of a larger problem rather than a solution, if it was ever a solution,' said attorney Silvey. 'The most fundamental professional task such as coordination with local or federal law enforcement gets botched on a daily basis, hundreds of times a year now.' Foley and Pells write for the Associated Press. AP reporter Will Graves contributed.
