Episode 10 The Clare Balding Show

Thank you very much. Hello and welcome the last in the current

series of The Clare Balding Show. With the Olympics and Paralympics

looming we pay homage to the greatest show on earth and our

guests have six gold medals between them and a number that will rise

after this year's games, because joining us tonight double Olympic

gold medallist and the new president of the IAAF, Lord Sebastian Coe. The

gold medal boxing champion with the golden smile, Nicola Adams is with

us. Taekwondo's finist Jade Jones and Bianca Walkden are here. And

completing our golden line up, the wheelchair sprint gold medallist,

Hannah Cockcroft. Let's start with my first guest, an Olympic legend

taking on the challenge of his life as he aims to clean up his beloved

sport. Sebastian Coe is one of greatest athletes of all time. He

won four Olympic medals and is the only athlete to have won the Olympic

15 hundred metres twice. Such was his dominance that at one stage he

held the 800, 15 hundred and mile world records. He spearheaded the

London bid to host the 2012 summer Olympics and Paralympics and became

chairman of the London organising committee and now as president of

the IAAF, he faces his toughest challenge to date - to rid athletics

of doping and restore the integrity of the governing body which has been

exposed as corrupt. Please welcome the right honourable Lord Coe.

APPLAUSE. Are you safe to go out at the moment. I think, although I have

a bad cold. Do you feel at the moment like the most hunted man in

Europe? No. Not every day any way! A warm welcome there and I imagine the

difference between men and women on the street and the British bress is

significant -- press is significant. I don't get too stressed about the

media, I have sort of, I'm in my 60th year. Can I say you don't look

it. That is the only reason I made that point. But I got into the GB

junior team when I was 18 and I have sort of lived in that world and

sometimes it is tough, sometimes you get the support. They're asking all

the questions that they should be asking. It is like the trawlerman

complaining about the tide. Your job is to sort it out and restore trust

in athletics, can you? Yes, we can and the changes that I'm making at

the moment alongside my council and some good people will do that. And

the question we all have to ask ourselves and I'm not immune from

that, I ask myself this, how on earth did we get to this position?

And the guiding principle for me is to get the right people with the

right motives in the sport and by a distance they're there. But for me

it is about the athletes, I'm not sitting here for any other reason

than because I'm runner. That is the guiding... Principle. You might

think you're defined as a runner, you have done so many things since

and many will think of you as the man who brought us London 2012. That

is not how I would define myself. APPLAUSE. You elevated yourself to

hero status and to be honest there are a lot easier jobs you could have

taken on, this role f you don't succeed, it will be the thing that

defines you? Possibly. If you remember when London threw its hat

in the ring for the games, nobody thought we were going to do that.

When I became the chairman we were fourth out of five cities and

trailing badly. I have never tended to predicate what I want to do on

the basis of the risk. It must be a relief that Dick Pound in delivering

the report from the world anti-doping association said you're

the right man to lead athletic out of this desperate situation. With

the benefit of hind sight, are there things you could have done or wish

you had done, things you might have said or challenged earlier? The

answer to that in life is normally yes. I think you have to be very

open and very honest about that. Was the fact that we had problems in

Russia around anti-doping a huge secret? No. Were we when we asked

the questions about the rising numbers of Russian positives, were

we given the right answers? Probably no. Should we have been able to look

over the wall and found out more, yes and those are the changes that

I'm putting in place. We have doubled the anti-doping budget from

four to eight million and doubled the number of athletes at

international level that we will be testing. You did lead your council

in a brave decision to suspend Russia. The decision on whether they

will compete at the 2016 Olympics rests with the IAAF? Yes. When we

suspended the Russian Federation as we did in November, the position had

become so she serious -- so serious and the observations made by dick

Dick Pound so clear cut we had no alternative. We want the Russian

athletes, but they can only come back when we are sure they are

coming back to systems that are secure. You're about to or may have

started the investigation into Kenyan athletes. That will be

ongoing and will start. There is an important point here. This whole

discussion and I'm not in denial here, our sport is, it has come

through a horrendous and is coming through a horrendous period. The

only reason we are having this discussion is because those Russian

athletes were unearthed on our biological passport that we

pioneered and the added reason is because we know through that

independent report there were people in the organisation I now preside

over who did whistle-blow. There are good people out there. But what we

have to make sure is that they have systems that really a allow us to do

what we need to do and to be fearless about it. We know that a

disproportionate amount of damage is caused be arelatively few country --

relatively few countries and we have to be more proactive and if it means

pulling them out of championships we are going to have to do that. What

is the time frame for the Kenyan investigation? That is ongoing. It

must be delivered before the Olympics. The anti-doping agency

have looked closely at that and we have monitored that. The withdrawal

of Adidas, will that have an impact? Adidas has not withdrawn. We have

got to a very good position with Adidas. That is going to go. That is

ongoing. Nestle I had more of a problem with. I felt that had little

to do with reputational damage, because actually the worse of the

lance arm strong issues they renewed with the Tour de France. So I was a

bit bemused by that and the word hypocritical slightly comes to mind.

We are not going to accept that one. But there is a broader point.

Sponsors will ask those questions and they should and they want to

know what changes I want to make, am I serious about that? Yes. It is the

only thing I'm focus on? Yes. Will we get those in place quickly? Yes

we will. But they have boards of shareholders and they're asking the

right questions. My the large part of my waking hours is flying around

the world explaining why it is my intention to never return to this

space again. I don't think there is any of us that would want to swap

places with you. Is there any part of job that is enjoyable? Yes,

because it is my passion. What else would I want to be doing other than

being given the job to shake the future -- shape the future of my

sport. It seemed a good idea at the time. Let's talk about your athletic

career. You say you define yourself as a runner and you were successful.

Was it always going to be running? Yes. Look at you you were angelic!

That photograph I have above my desk. My father pointed that. He was

a talented man. He was an engineer and decided to take a coaching view

and look at this, you will get an idea of their coaching relationship.

Basically what is is between six and eight half mile sections of road,

back-to-back. I have the car as pace. And most of them are run under

two minutes with a very short recovery. That is hard. That is

probably one of the hardest of the conditioning session I do. The

quality of what you do is more important than the quantity. Why

pound the life out of a young runner when you can develop it with

quality? APPLAUSE. Oh we had quiet country lanes you could do that now.

You did interval training? Yes with the car. A short recovery, not near

live as short as the shorts. They were very short! Was your father

tough on you? Yes, but sensibly. My parents had no idea I had joined the

athletics club and my mother was I think when I was about eleven or 12

was concerned as to where I was going Tuesday nights and Thursday

night and Sunday mornings. I think I'm sure she sent my father to find

out what was going on. He started to watch what I was doing at the club.

And then being a classic engineer decided he could do it better than

anybody else. And after about the first two years he sort of became my

coach and effectively turned himself into the best middle distance coach

of his generation. S his methods were successful and in 1979 you

broke three world records in 41 days. Of course back then we didn't

have the internet or mobile phones and how did you let your mum know

you had broke the first of the records? The world record came one

evening when I wasn't expecting it. As I left the stadium, I spotted a

telephone, so I picked up the phone and got through to the factory and

his Secretary said, he is not around. Have you got a message? I

said, yes, could you tell him his son's just broken the world 800

metre record. She went, OK right, you all right? See you soon, bye.

That was how he got to know about it. The nation was gripped by your

rivalry with Steve Ovett. We loved it, because we like to get

involved... Sorry who? The 1980 Moscow Olympics were known as the

Ovett versus Coe Olympics and you met in the 800 and 1,500 metres. You

were supposed to win the 800. He was supposed to win the 1,500 and the

reverse happened. He was a very good runner. The most naturally talented

athlete I competed with. By the time of the 15 hundred there was nowhere

to go. This image is you winning the 1,500. That illsing no -- that is

not a look of joy. It is relief and panic, you don't know whether

anybody is going to come past. But you put your arms out so they can't

get by. Now our second guest illuminated the Olympics with her

big smiled and success, please welcome the women's fly weight

boxing champion, Nicola Adams. APPLAUSE. Good to see you. We have

been trying to get Nicola for years actually. You are a woman wedded to

your training. Yes I have a passion for my sport and I'm always striving

to achieve the best and I know I can only do that by training. What is

your routine? I train three times a day, five days a week. That is a run

in the morning, strength and conditioning in the mid morning and

weights and stuff and the boxing in the evening. That is hard core. We

can see you doing some pull ups. They're really difficult. Although

you Smile through most of life you didn't...

That's a smile, I'm working on that one. How important is it you have

somebody like Nicola, who shines out of an Olympic Games? She has helped

put women's boxing on the map and really allowed people to understand

that women's boxing is really serious thought and they have every

justification to do it. You must have noticed and seen evidence of a

changing attitude? I was really shocked and surprised how many

people had watched me when and just took to boxing. The amount of girls

and boys that have actually got into the sport of boxing now just after

seeing me win has been absolutely amazing. Getting tweets to say I'm

their hero, I've inspired them to get into the ring, it's a real

honour for me definitely. My favourite moment of the games was

you finishing and being interviewed. Somebody said the usual, how did you

feel? You said, it's made my day. LAUGHTER

The impact of your success went far beyond those who were in the Excel

on the day, including the Queen. Yeah, I was quite amazed, I didn't

know she was a big fan of boxing. LAUGHTER

What did you say? What did she say to you? She was really happy I had

won and she was looking forward to seeing me in Rio, and hoping I can

do the same again. You are very aware you are reigning champion,

said, I have a target on my back, will it be different for you,

mentally, going to Rio? I know what it's like to win, being in the

village surrounded by so many big names, athletes and champions, I

kind of feel like a more rounded athlete going into it this time,

it's given me a lot more confidence. Are you fit as well? I am, yeah,

fitter, stronger, faster, ready to go. One thing amateur boxers don't

do that professional boxers do is trash talk. Are you capable of doing

it? I don't know! Maybe. If you were going to fight seven:... LAUGHTER

Because Muhammad Ali is one of your heroes, what would Muhammad Ali...

How would you channel him? -- if you were going to fight to three macro.

Sebastien Coke you used to be fast, but those days are way in the past.

-- ten three macro. You look young, but you look quite old, mess with me

and I'll knock you out cold. She does it all with a smile. I'm

certainly not retaliating. It's time now to welcome our next guest, she

won double gold at the London 2012 Paralympics and is gunning for

another golden haul this summer. Let's see her in action at the

recent World Championships. Bastion to have been asked and she is

finding the answers. -- questions have been asked. Punches the air!

Hannah Cockroft has a world title. Ladies and gentlemen, Hannah

Cockroft! Thank you for coming on the show and

many congratulations on your recent successes at the World Championship

in Doha, remind us what you won. Gold in 100, 400 and 800.

UR a flag bearer for the Paralympic movement. You've been involved in

this momentum building towards the Paralympic games in Rio, because

it's tough and expensive, isn't it, to keep going? Even if you are

funded? For me, my wheelchair busts me ?8,000. Last year, two months

before we flew to the World Championship, might race chair got

damaged and I couldn't race any more. -- might race chair. It's

important we have support, without these pieces of abridgement we can't

get out and do what we have to do. It's still the barrier for people

getting into Paralympic sport, there are so many more willing sponsors to

come on board and help you with that. It is going out and proving to

them, your money is being spent right, showing to them what we can

do when we have someone behind us. Something happened last year that

had never happened to you before, Hannah Cockroft, you got beaten. For

the first time in something like 300 races, by... A 14-year-old. And what

happened? The thing is, when you raise the same people over and over

again, I did just get complacent. Had a cracking start and honestly I

just switched off. Harry went past and it was like I woke up and

thought, I'm actually racing here, what am I doing? For British athlete

is quite encouraging, because at 14 she is going to be the rising star.

Carrie will be coming with me to Rio. I can guarantee. With me, but I

will be on top! As well as training, and competing,

you are also studying. Yes, I am. Journalism, I'm after your job. I

love that. Seb studied at the same time as competing. It's a fairly

charitable description of what I did. I was the only student at

Loughborough who handed in essays on British Airways notepaper. Time to

introduce our next 26 team gold medal hopes he will be striking fear

into their rivals as well as kicks and punches, taekwondo Olympic

champion Jerry Jones and taekwondo world champion Bianca Walkden! --

Jade Jones and Bianca Walkden. Welcome, good to see you both. Now,

look at this for a line-up. I dedicated my whole life to this

moment. The thing about Jade and Bianca, Olympic champion, world

champion, different categories. You don't fight each other, do you? We

do in training all the time, it gets a bit heated. We're in different

weights, I'm -57, yank it is in plus 67. -- Bianca is in plus 67. You

share a house bastion we've lived together at six years, we train

together, live together, each together. I would love to see

somebody try to break into the house. We can see Jade in training.

What is your nickname? The headhunter. When I first went to the

National Academy I kept going, literally hunting for the head all

the time. The headshot is three points, why bother going to the

body? Yes, indeed. Let's have a look at you.

APPLAUSE Jade, you were the youngest gold

medallist for Great Britain in London 2012, you were 19. 19, yeah.

To do that so young, is that the thing you will always remember, your

first gold medal? Or was it, that's the beginning, now I do it again.

Definitely, don't think anything hadn't beat that, London was so

amazing, home games, my first games, didn't know what to expect. All my

family and friends. Britain just went crazy, unbelievable. An amazing

experience, that I don't think you can beat. The moment came at the

2015 World Championships. It was a very tense final talk us through

what happened. Yeah, I was losing all the way, basically, I had 14

seconds left. I kicked her in the head, but they took it off me. And I

had nine seconds left. The next minute I got another one, I was

like, I'll have to keep this one now. Next minute I was world

champion, so it was good. The points scoring system in taekwondo is

complex, rather than try to explain it, it's better to demonstrate. I

will be the pity. -- I will be the piggy. When we discussed it, I

thought, yes, of course, I will be the dummy while they demonstrate how

to score points in taekwondo. Little bit nervous. The lowest points that

can be scored? A one point shot. How does it work? If you just go to the

side of it. And hold it. It's called a back leg. Good, one point. Two

points? It's a spin and kicked to the body. Who's doing that? Jade is

going to. It used to be two points but because it's more flashy it has

moved to three points. That would hurt you, actually! I allowed to do

that? I saw it coming, but my elbow in. Are you all right? If I don't go

to Rio... It's my fault for breaking her toes. There is a four point

shot. Put your arms up, I'll probably not queue out. It's

literally exactly the same to the body, you are just going to spin and

go high. I don't reckon I could control it. That's fine, as

demonstrations go that was very very well done! APPLAUSE

CHEERING Luckily I had survived, so thank you

for not actually knocking my head off. Seb has vowed to clean up his

sport of athletics. You guys as full-time athlete in your respective

sports, how often do you get tested, and do you have any warning at all?

Bianca. We have a whereabouts system, we have to say where we are

every day for a certain hour. We put 6am, make sure we are in bed, so we

don't miss it. When they ring the bell presumably you don't know which

one is being tested. I'm lucky Bianca lives with me, I literally

wouldn't hear it. I hear Bianca out the window, going, who is it for? If

they say Jade, I'm like, Jade gets down! Nicola when they come to test

you it's always at home, is it? Not at the gym? No, it can be anywhere.

What has to happen? They take blood or you're in. I think you're in is

the most awkward, because they actually have to watch you go to the

toilet. I always get stage fright. -- double. It takes me between four

and six hours to go. Standing in the bathroom with you waiting? Yeah! I'm

the same as Jade and Bianca, I'm on the whereabouts system, ie

essentially get tested at least one time my mother, it's awkward, you

have to pull your top up to here and your pants right down, then in

Australia, they were like, can you stand up and give the sample so we

can see everything. I was like, what kind of girl stands up to have a

wee? I can't do that! It really helps if you turn the tap on. I've

tried that as well, it's the whole watching that puts me off. You have

to pretend like they are not there, they chat away like they are your

best friend. I thought, I would let my best friend see me in this

position might now. Can you walk up to people in the Olympic Village and

ask for a photo? You try to be respectful and not do that, you know

how important being focused is. You wouldn't do that? I would never do

that! It was all right committee was cool. He was really cool. We've

reached the end of the show and the end of a brilliant series. Thanks to

all my guests through the last ten weeks added huge thanks to my guests

tonight. Good luck in Rio to Hannah Cockroft, Nicola Adams, Jade Jones

and Hannah walked in. -- Bianca Walkden. Until we return, a very

good night.