Seb Coe: You have to be very careful. Boycotts never really resolve what they set out to achieve

Sochi is setting all the wrong records with it being the costliest Olympics and having the worst pre-Games publicity but since Sebastian Coe arrived in this Black Sea resort a week ago he has seen nothing here to feel that the Russian spend of £30billion was unwise or, in the long term, pointless.

As I ask him about Sochi’s wretched public image there is a long sigh and he says: “I am inured to this. In all Games there is always a tendency, particularly in the lead up to the Games, when there isn’t much sport to talk about, to write about things that are not sport.”