Sebastian Coe: Amid all the talk of extremism and security, sport can play a crucial role

I have many fond memories of the Olympic and Paralympic Games five summers ago in London. But there is one that I am regularly reminded of and this week, in the aftermath of the Manchester terrorist atrocity, I have leant heavily on it. In the closing ceremony of the Games, I spoke about a chance encounter early one morning on the DLR bound for the ExCeL arena which, during the Games, was home for the fighting sports. I made a habit of always thanking our legion of volunteers — Games-Makers, as they were known — who were the difference between a good and a great Games.

Standing quietly at one end of the carriage was Dr Andrew Hartle. I thanked him, asked him what his duties for the day were and then what he did when he wasn’t helping to put on the greatest show on earth. He explained he was off to boxing, that he was also a consultant anaesthetist. I was reassured that such a crucial skills set was on hand for arguably the bravest of all our young Olympians.

I thanked him again and then he told me his story — one that will stay with me for the rest of my life. The short rail hop from central London to the Docklands was the end for Andrew of a seven-year journey of recovery. He was on duty at St Mary’s Paddington on the day of the 7/7 bombing, the day after London won the right to host the Games. He explained that he wanted to volunteer yet faltered when it came to registering, turned around en route to his first interview and only a few months before the Games was still unsure about attending our induction programme at Wembley. “This is closure,” he quietly explained. “I have seen the worst of mankind and here in London at these Games I have seen the best.”

This is a particularly busy time of the year for sport. The football season reaches its crescendo with the FA Cup Final at Wembley tomorrow and rugby’s Premiership Final at Twickenham. This summer, cricket fans can look forward to the England v South Africa Test series as well as the ICC Champions Trophy, Wimbledon takes centre stage as usual, the Olympic Stadium hosts the IAAF World Athletics Championships in two months’ time while this weekend, Manchester hosts the Great CityGames — street athletics tonight and a 10-kilometre mass road race on Sunday.

Little over a year ago, I sat with the organising team for the Diamond League night of athletics in Monaco. They and the local police teams were weighing up the security implications of 20,000 fans gathered in a stadium only 24 hours and barely 20 miles away from the seafront at Nice, where a lorry ploughed into local people, many of them children, celebrating Bastille Day. For a moment it seemed the discussion was delicately balanced. Prince Albert of Monaco, who had listened carefully, quietly but without hesitation, made his view abundantly clear — “We are not cancelling the event. If we do that, they win.” And he was right. And the legions of Manchester United fans who followed their team to Stockholm two days ago to see José Mourinho, pictured, and his team win the Europa League final, knew that too.

I shall be in Manchester tonight to watch the CityGames and the athletes will know that their performances are much more than just a stepping stone to the world championships, personal bests or prize money. They will also instinctively know that they too will be a part of the grieving and, ultimately, healing process.

The last time I was in Manchester, we were celebrating the triumphant homecoming of our all-conquering Olympic and Paralympic teams fresh from Rio. In monsoon conditions, thousands of Mancunians took to the streets — many of them bagging prime spots hours earlier to cheer our heroes to the rafters as the floats passed through the city streets. Some of those in the British athletics team that day will be performing tonight in front of many who lorded them on that wet afternoon. This is now their chance through sport to stand united with the people of the city and be defiant in the face of evil. It won’t be the first or last time that sport steps up.

So often sport has not just simply mirrored society — it has set its trends, whether it was Jesse Owens exposing the risible Aryan views of Adolph Hitler at the 1936 Games, the black power salute by African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the rostrum in Mexico in 1968 or the Paralympic Games so powerfully advancing the cause of disability. Sport also has the ability to get to places and to people and to shine a spotlight on issues that leaders and politicians often brush past. Coaches the length and breadth of the country often provide the only anchor point in the lives of young people, for some their only male role models.

I am sure, as I have written before, that the great and the good will come together to talk about security and intelligence systems and at that table will also be our faith, cultural and community leaders. But when they do gather, there has to be a chair for sport. It is not the only solution but we do have a reach that extends well beyond most.