Daniel Radcliffe to play Olympic great Sebastian Coe in 'Gold'

HARRY Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has signed on to play British Olympic runner Sebastian Coe in a movie about rivalries on the track.

Daniel Radcliffe will play Sebastian Coe, an Olympic gold medallist who also helmed the organising committee for last year's London Games.

HARRY Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has signed on to play British Olympic runner Sebastian Coe in a movie about rivalries on the running track.

Gold will tell the story of the tense rivalry between Coe and fellow middle distance runner Steve Ovett in the run-up to the 1980 Moscow Olympics, where Ovett won the 800 metres and Coe took the 1500 metres.

Coe, also a gold medallist in 1984, went on to become a politician and headed the London organising committee at last year's summer Olympics.

The movie will reunite the 24-year-old Radcliffe with James Watkins, the director of the play The Woman in Black.

Filming is expected to begin in  April 2014.

Radcliffe's publicist confirmed Radcliffe's casting overnight. The casting for Ovett has not yet been announced.