Coe was due to give the 115-members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) an update on London 2012 preparations but has stayed back in Britain because his father, Peter, who is 90, is gravely ill.

 

It is hoped that Coe will arrive in the Chinese capital in time for the opening ceremony on Friday but London 2012 officials said he was "taking it one day at a time".

 

The presentation to the IOC will instead be given by Paul Deighton, the chief executive.

 

It was Peter Coe who turned his son into a world record-breaking Olympic gold medal winning middle-distance runner, arguably the greatest of all time.

 

An engineer by trade, Coe - who was born in Stepney-in-Bow close to the proposed site of the Olympic Stadium for 2012 - had no prior experience of middle-distance running before his son showed promise in the sport.

 

But he applied his logical brain to biomechanics to perfect a training regime, including translating himself East German text books on physiology, that was initially criticised for being too physically punishing but has since been acclaimed for being ahead of its time.

 

Coe was so successful that Seb was the first man to win two Olympic 1500 metres titles and set 11 world records.

 

At the age of 19 he had been on a merchant navy boat torpedoed in the Atlantic during World War Two and was one of only five survivors picked up by the Germans, where he was put to work in the kitchen because he spoke fluent German.

 

He later escaped when he jumped off a train on his way to being sent to a prionser of war camp and walked through the day and night to Spain, where he was put in jail for six months because he did not have the right documentation.

 

Feared dead by his family, he did not return to England until he was in his early 20s and relocated to Sheffield where he began to carve out a successful career.

 

Coe has remained close to his father, who has grown increasingly frail and is losing his sight, and every Sunday when he is at home goes round to his house to read him the Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator.

 

A man of strongly-held opinions, Coe recalled his father once having a fierce row with a British athletics official.

 

Coe said: "Afterwards I said to him, ‘You don’t scare easily’.

 

"[He replied] ‘I don’t scare at all.

 

"'The past 45 years have been a f****** bonus’.

 

"That fearlessness made him a great man to have in your corner.”