News Sebastian Coe has hailed the “unique spirit” of Rio de Janeiro as the key ingredient that will make the Olympic and Paralympic Games a success Speaking at the Rio 2016 headquarters on Monday (16 May), the man who oversaw the successful delivery of the London 2012 Games said people would be surprised by how the event would galvanise the city Coe, a two-time Olympic champion in the 1500m and now president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), is in town for the athletics test event and took time for a question and answer session with Rio 2016 staff who are making the final preparations for the first edition of the Games to be staged in South America “I have spent a lot of time in Rio and this city has a unique spirit,” said Coe when asked what he thought the Games would be like “The great advantage you have… and me and my team from the IAAF saw this yesterday morning as we stood looking out onto the beach before heading off to work… we all looked at each other and said ‘this is the advantage ’ “This is what you have and don’t for one moment overlook the unique spirit of this city, it’s an extraordinary city and it will absorb the Games I think people will be surprised by the spirit these Games will generate ” Seb Coe predicts records will tumble on ‘very fast’ Rio 2016 athletics track Rio 2016 staff packed out the auditorium to hear from Coe (Photo: Rio 2016/Gabriel Nascimeno) Coe also highlighted the famously warm welcome that Rio offers visitors and made a comparison with how the British capital overcame its image of being less hospitable “London was seen as creative, competent, diverse, smart city that was unbelievably welcoming And I’m a Londoner and can say that Londoners are not always noted for that,” said Coe to laughs around the hall “We were seen as a city that reached out, and I’m absolutely convinced that’s what Rio will do People who are here will feel very welcome and very wanted and that’s a priceless asset to have when you’re delivering a Games ” Coe was asked by one Rio 2016 employee how he overcame the disappointment of failing to win his favoured event, the 800m, at both the Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games, when he was beaten into second place by fellow Briton Steve Ovett and Brazil’s Joaquim Cruz respectively On both occasions he bounced back to win the 1500m title and he said this ability to respond to set-backs would be crucial to delivering successful Games “You have to accept that you will have some set-backs and how you deal with these will define the quality of the Games,” he said “Your relationships have to be resilient, you have to trust each other – trust in each other’s ability – and be honest and open when things go wrong Yes, you will bad days, but you are defined by how you bounce back ” Coe added that the feedback he had received from the IAAF technical delegates observing the athletics test event, which started on Saturday and concluded on Monday, had been positive “They told me that the good news is that there’s no bad news,” he said, stressing that test events existed for organisers to absorb lessons and adapt their plans