The chairman of London 2012 had delayed his arrival in Beijing to keep a bedside vigil on his father, who died just a few hours after Coe arrived in the Chinese capital on Saturday.

 

Coe has decided to stay at the Olympics until he has to return home for the funeral and today travelled to Hong Kong to watch the cross-country section of the equestrian events.

 

Coe was on the course at 5.45am to watch the first of the 48 riders competing, led by New Zealand's Mark Todd, who is the godfather to Coe's son Peter, named after his father.

 

As well as being his father, Peter Coe coached his son to unprecedented success on the track, guiding him to consectutive Olympic 1500 metres titles and setting 11 individual world records.

 

Coe said that he was certain that his father would have understood him carrying on his trip to the Olympics especially as he was born in Stepney, only a mile away from where the Olympic Stadium will be built.

 

He said: "The world goes on.

 

"He took all these sports pretty seriously so he think he would have been pleased that I got here.

 

"Anybody who knows the coach-athlete relationship knows that it is as close as father and son.

 

"Of course, in my case, I had two rolled into one so they were wonderful years.

 

"There was rarely a day that went by without us talking, so he will be a big gap in my life."

 

Peter Coe was fiercely proud of what his son achieved on and off the track.

 

Seb Coe said: "But he was also probably as proud of the team that brought the Games to London in 2012 and knew, because that is what he did, the impact on young people being inspired by something they see in their own backyard.

 

"That is what his whole life was dedicated to.

 

"It was dedicated to people achieving."