Book review: Ovett: An Autobiography

Steve Ovett is yet another world record-setting British athlete and Olympic gold medalist.  He won gold in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow and held world records for 1,500m and the mile run.  He is most well-known for his constant duel with the other great British middle-distance runner, Seb Coe.  This is a review of his autobiography (affiliate links: UK, US).

British running enigma disdains even a photo for his own front cover

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Who was Steve Ovett?

That is exactly what everyone asks.  Steve Ovett was a remarkably media-shy character, who refused to speak to the press for much of his athletic career.  He himself jokes in the prologue to his autobiography that someone had even written a biography of him without even speaking to him by the time he sat down to give his own account.

In his autobiography, Ovett explains how this attitude to the media came to pass.  At the European Cup in 1975, he was invited to the press box to discuss his winning time in the semi-final of the 800m.  He explained to them in that interview that he did not intend to run in the final later in the summer as he had personal commitments.  They called his patriotism into question.  He indicated he had no further time for them and left.

Much later in his career, after complete radio silence from him towards the press, he was once invited to comment on a memorable performance, held in the dead of winter.  He paused for a moment before passing on a message: “Merry Christmas,” it read.

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Ovett’s training tips

One of the interesting aspects of Ovett’s autobiography is that he does go into some of the detail about his training routines.

Ovett talks early on about using intervals to build the speed and stamina required for his 800m and 1,500m races.  He is quick to note that the prevailing view at the time was the heart rates during the intervals should be between 170 and 200bpm and that the next interval should only be commenced once 120bpm had been achieved again.  Ovett is keen to make clear that he found this restrictive, as his heart rate regularly exceeded 200bpm during the intervals and 120bpm came too quickly for his legs to feel fully recovered.

Ovett notes that after a few years of regular training, he could use his 400m intervals to determine his 1,500m time.

Ovett classified himself as an endurance-dominant runner, as opposed to Seb Coe, who he classified as a speed-dominant runner.  He explains that he felt that each of their training routines were very different and that each would struggle to perform the other’s workouts.  He is keen to point out that every athlete needs to find what they respond to best and to work at that.

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Ovett, the personality

I’m not in the business of tabloid journalism, so I’m not going to start working through details of Ovett’s personal life.  However, as a student of athletic psychology, I find him a fascinating subject.

From reading his autobiography, a couple of things jump out.  Obviously, he decided to impose radio silence on the press early in his career and he held to that promise (although he later became part of the BBC’s on-location crew when the Commonwealth Games went to Australia in 2006).  I can completely understand this behaviour, as many other athletes refer to their horrible experiences with the press in their own autobiographies.

However, not many people know that following his gold medal win in Moscow in 1980, he clashed with his parents over his girlfriend (and later wife), which led to his apparently not speaking to his family for several years.  The details in his autobiography are a little unclear but it seemed that he was quite prepared to impose radio silence on anyone with whom he had a disagreement.

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Ovett’s injuries

Ovett himself is the first to say that when it came to injuries, he was luckier than most.  He notes that in 1975, when he first developed a niggling pain in his knee, he was very fortunate to be referred to a good physiotherapist, who had good connections with physicians used to dealing with sports injuries.

From the number of athletic autobiographies I have read where the athletes get bounced all over the place trying to find a doctor capable of looking after them, I have to say I agree with Ovett.  He was very, very lucky.

Again, in November 1981, when he accidentally tripped while training and fell into some church railings, he was lucky to be operated on quickly by a skilled surgeon.  A potentially career-ending injury was averted and he was able to train again by March of the following year.  Since he typically took two months of training off each year, this was no great obstacle.

It was only at the end that he met an injury that really got the better of him.  At the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, he suffered badly with bronchitis, which he attributed to the heavy smog in that city and which he feels the medical profession did everything they could to avoid that implication…

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Summing up

This is a great book (affiliate links: UK, US) for any sports fan who lived through the Ovett/Coe years.  It’s also a great book for any runner or aspiring athlete who feels they have to follow the latest and greatest routines or workouts on the internet instead of listening to their own bodies and figuring out what they need to do to improve.