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BBC Films has partnered with Al Films to develop a feature about the notorious athletics rivalry between British Olympians Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe.

The film, which will be released just before the London 2012 Olympics, will be produced by Al Film's Joanna Anderson and Vicky Licorish after they recently oversaw TV series Small Island for the BBC.

Coe and Ovett, who both competed at the Moscow and Los Angeles Olympics, dominated world athletics for many years but had very different personalities.

British screenwriter William Davies (Flushed Away, Twins) has been hired to adapt sports journalist Pat Butcher's book about the rivaly, titled The Perfect Distance.

"Will is a fantastic writer who is a keen sportsman," said Anderson. "He has been fired up by this story which means so much to a UK audience, and is the British Olympic story which also gripped the US."

Licorish added: "You were either an Ovett person or a Coe person, and that's what makes it such a great character piece as well."

BBC Films creative director Christine Langan said that the film has a "gem of a story" which reflects Britain's sporting and cultural history.