The 56-year-old (pictured top) has received widespread plaudits for helping London 2012 stage arguably the greatest Olympics and Paralympics ever just over seven years after he spearheaded the 2012 bid team to victory in Singapore in July 2005.

But Coe, who was recently appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron as his Olympics legacy ambassador, said there is still work to be done.

"I don't feel sad," Coe told insidethegames.

"You are only sad if it is the end of the story and it is not the end of the story.

"We delivered a great Olympics and Paralympics and that was our main objective when we were awarded the Games in Singapore in 2005 but this is not the end.

"The Flame has gone out but the ambition stays alight and the real challenge going forward is to maintain sustainable and meaningful change.

"That is what I will continue to strive for."

Sebastian Coe (second left) has been appointed Olympics legacy ambassador by Prime Minister David Cameron (second right)

Coe, who is being widely tipped to take up the role of British Olympic Association (BOA) chairman next month, also revealed he still has a huge amount of work to do professionally as London 2012 chairman before he officially vacates the position in May next year.

"With regard to my own role with the Organising Committee, I chair the last London 2012 Board meeting in May next year and that is when we officially close LOCOG as a business," he explained.

"But I will be flat out, at least until Christmas and probably beyond, still working on this project.

"We have many, many business partners and those partnerships are still active until Christmas.

"We also have all of our relationships with the Government and the boroughs in place so there are still a lot of complexities because this is a very big organisation we are bringing to a close.

"We also have a lot of international work still to do.

"I intend to visit every one of the continents to thank those National Olympic Committees, National Paralympic Committees and organisations that have helped us do this.

"I'm very mindful that 205 National Olympic Committees and 164 National Paralympic Committees have helped us deliver these Games.

"We also have the London 2012 debrief in November in Rio which is an intensive piece of work.

"So there is a lot of work still to be done."

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