Coe Laughs at His Own Organisation

At the world athletics championships in Berlin where I, among other track and field writers, was invited out by Lord Sebastian Coe, no less, at a restaurant in the city centre on Thursday night. Coe was there in his dual role of IAAF bigwig and leader of London 2012, having been the front man in the successful bid to win the Olympics back in 2005.  Which is all very apt because he failed to persuade the waiters in the restaurant to connect two dining tables so that all invited guests could sit together. "I'm supposed to be organising the Olympic Games," he muttered to the rest of us when he realised the waiters were not for turning.. "And I can't even sort out two tables at a restaurant."