Sebastian Coe competed at the boycotted 1980 and 1984 Olympics, winning gold medals at both. He's been a politician, serving as a member of Parliament in Britain. He led London's winning bid for the 2012 Olympics and is now serving as the chief organizer of the games.
All that gives Coe a special perspective on the acrimonious buildup to the Beijing Olympics, the protest-marred torch relay in London and elsewhere, and the criticism of China's human rights record.
"Is it right for the games to be in China?" Coe said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press. "Absolutely it is right for the games to be in China."
China's recent crackdown in Tibet has sparked talk of a possible boycott of the Beijing Games, though no governments have actually called for a walkout. Coe is dismayed by any suggestions of such a punitive measure, saying only the athletes would suffer.
The U.S. led a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviets retaliated with their own boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Coe won the gold medal in the 1,500 meters at both of those Olympics.
"I don't think anybody frankly of any credibility is calling for a boycott," he said. "I'd like to think anybody that has even contemplated that just has a cursory glance at history to see how futile they are. There's never been a more important time to redefine, reaffirm the values of international sport, but boycotts frankly don't work. I would like to think that most people have learned that lesson."
While Olympic officials repeatedly insist that sports and politics shouldn't mix, Coe _ who served as a Conservative member of Parliament from 1992-97 _ realizes that's not realistic.
"You can never do that. I'm not naive enough to remotely think that's possible," he said. "Politics is the stuff of life, and so is sport, and they are inseparable. What we have to remember is that sport is not the first resort, it's not the front line of politics. You can't ask the International Olympic Committee to do things that the United Nations Security Council is in a better position to do."
Coe witnessed opposition to China's hosting of the games up close on Sunday when pro-Tibet protesters disrupted the Olympic torch relay through London's streets. But he views the protests as a sign of healthy debate in England and the relay leg as an overall success.
"We would rather have been fully focused on the 90 percent standing around the course who understood and celebrated the occasion," he said. "But we are a big global city, demonstrations both passive and otherwise are not unknown.
"I think the police did an amazing job in maintaining the progress of the torch," he added, "and, without drawing any comparisons with anything else, we actually got it 'round."
That was a reference at the torch procession in Paris on Monday, when security officials called off the last part of the relay in the face of persistent protests along the route.
The London leg, Coe said, proceeded "much to the enjoyment of the vast majority of people who actually witnessed scenes of celebrations and not the six or seven high-profile incidents. That's London, that's the way it is, that's the way it should be. We're a democratic, open country."
He said it's too early for London organizers to consider whether or not to hold an international leg of the torch relay in 2012.
"It's time for reflection, not to do anything precipitous," he said. "We should look at this as a particular case study and not draw too many conclusions from it. This would not be the right moment to draw those conclusions. That is ultimately for the IOC to make a judgment."
While the Olympic movement shouldn't "shy away" from the human rights issue, Coe said, it shouldn't use that as the yardstick for awarding the games since every country can be criticized on political grounds.
"You have to be very, very careful if you go down the road of choosing your sporting partners on current, historic or future political stances," he said, "because, frankly, the marketplace for international sport would be pretty thin."
Coe remains a firm believer that the Olympics, including those in China, can only help promote global harmony.
"Over 200 countries compete in the games," he said. "You have to recognize a lot of those countries are not even talking to each other outside of sporting events. I've seen sport play a huge role in bringing communities and nations together, sometimes doing it far more successfully than orthodox political strategy."
Coe cites, in particular, the transformation brought about by the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
"We went to Seoul in '88 where 50 percent of the world didn't even recognize diplomatically, and yet North and South walked into the stadium together. Time and time again we've seen the impact that an Olympic Games has had on continuing or even starting that change process."
