Sebastian Coe, We can all discover the inspiration to be an Olympic winner

TODAY, I'm delighted to be returning to Yorkshire on one of my regular trips around the UK. The county as most people know, holds a special place in my heart as it is where my athletics career began. My development and success all took place against the backdrop of Yorkshire, its landscape (perfect for endurance training) and its people.

It's hard to believe that this year marks the 30th anniversary of my first Olympic Games. The 1980 Games in Moscow took place on an extremely tense and political stage. Threats that countries would pull out were made, then carried out – and even our own government wanted British athletes to withdraw. I believed then, as I believe now, that this was counter-productive as history has repeatedly shown. The only people hurt in the boycott drama were, of course, the athletes.

Once we made the decision to go, the politics took second place as the perceived rivalry between myself and Steve Ovett took over the media agenda. I say perceived, actually it probably did reflect the rivalry between us – in the narrow pursuit of medals, but as far as the rest of it, if truth be told, we didn't really know each other!

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These days, we get on very well and look back with wry smiles at our younger selves. With us both competing in the 800m and 1500m, there was plenty for the media to talk about and if you believed the hype, the 800m was a Coe formality and Ovett was in line for the 1500m. It didn't quite work out that way. I ran the worst race of my life in the 800, Steve took gold and with Steve's strongest event to come, I thought I'd missed my chance.

My coach (also my father) was less than happy and he didn't hold back. Over the next few days, I gathered myself for an onslaught on the 1500m, which proved successful. As the Olympic flag was raised, I knew that competing in these Games for my country was the right thing to do.

The experiences of Moscow in 1980 helped to shape my career both on and off the track. Coming back to the UK as an Olympic gold medallist was something that made me very proud – but there was no danger of me getting ideas above my station. My father, the team around me and of course the people of Yorkshire made sure of that. I was welcomed back home with open arms and people were very proud, but I was still able to go out around the county and lead a normal existence without the pressures that many athletes experienced in other cities. I've always been very grateful to the people of Sheffield and Yorkshire for that.

So coming back to the region in my current guise as chairman of the London 2012 Organising Committee is always a pleasure. We've had magnificent support from the county since the bid and I'm thrilled to be visiting projects in the county which simply would not be there without London 2012. And in many ways, the stops I'll be making on this visit represent a snapshot of what London 2012 is all about – from sport to business, via culture.

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I'll be speaking at the Yorkshire Gold Business Club conference first thing, which is aimed at ensuring Yorkshire businesses are in the best shape to tender for London 2012 related opportunities – as we get closer to Games-time.

We anticipate that there will be more than 600m worth of direct contracts over the next two years and there is no reason why Yorkshire companies cannot be part of that. All of our opportunities are registered on a website called "Compete For" to ensure that everyone has a fair chance to get involved.

From business to culture, and I'll be calling in to Cartwright Hall in Bradford to meet some of the young ambassadors involved in the Cultural Olympiad project "Stories of the World" which is an initiative aimed at young people finding and curating the history of their region, working with local museums. There, I will also help to launch Bradford Gold, a programme that will ensure that the people of Bradford benefit from the opportunities that London 2012 offers.

From there, I'll be meeting some local pupils whose schools are part of our education network – "Get Set", which is a fantastic programme where the Olympic and Paralympic values inspire a vast range of resources across the school curriculum. Schools involved also have the chance to earn rewards – from visits to the Olympic Park to visits from our mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville.

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I'll also be watching the kids take part in the finals of an athletics meeting, featuring 250 pupils from 16 schools in the region. Using the Games to inspire young people in schools has proved to be a real winner across the UK with more than 1,000 Yorkshire schools now signed up to the programme.

And talking of inspiring, today is also significant as we celebrate the 500th Inspire Project. Our Inspire programme celebrates non-commercial initiatives inspired by the Games which cover sport, culture, education and sustainability. This afternoon I will award the 500th Inspire Mark to Sheffield based project "Steps to Inclusion".

And that, in one day encapsulates what the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are all about. They're about sport, culture, education and inspiring people all over the country, from London to Yorkshire.