Roger Bannister
Encyclopedia
Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister, CBE
(born 23 March 1929) is an English
former athlete best known for running the first recorded mile
in less than 4 minutes
. Bannister became a distinguished neurologist
and Master
of Pembroke College, Oxford
, before retiring in 2001.
Sir Roger was the inaugural recipient of the Sports Illustrated
Sportsman of the Year
award in January 1955 (1954 Sportsman of the Year).
, England. He went to Vaughan Primary school in Harrow before going on to be educated at the City of Bath Boys' School, University College School
, London, Exeter College
and Merton College
, Oxford, and at St Mary's Hospital Medical School
(now part of Imperial College London
).
's remarkable comeback in 1945. Eight years after setting the mile record and seeing it surpassed during the war years by the great Swedish
runners Arne Andersson
and Gunder Hägg
, Wooderson regained his old form and challenged Andersson over the distance in several races. Wooderson lost to Andersson but set a British record of 4:04.2 in Göteborg on 9 September.
Like Wooderson, Bannister would ultimately set a mile record, see it broken, and then set a new personal best slower than the new record.
Bannister started his running career at Oxford
in the autumn of 1946 at the age of 17. He had never worn running spikes previously or run on a track. His training was light, even compared to the standards of the day, but he showed promise in running a mile in 1947 in 4:24.6 on only three weekly half-hour training sessions.
He was selected as an Olympic "possible" in 1948 but declined as he felt he was not ready to compete at that level. However, he was further inspired to become a great miler by watching the 1948 Olympics
. He set his training goals on the 1952 Olympics
in Helsinki
.
In 1949, he improved in the 880 yards to 1:52.7 and won several mile races in 4:11. Then, after a period of six weeks with no training, he came in third at White City
in 4:14.2.
The year 1950 saw more improvements as he finished a relatively slow 4:13 mile on 1 July with an impressive 57.5 last quarter. Then, he ran the AAA 880 in 1:52.1, losing to Arthur Wint
, and then ran 1:50.7 for the 800 m at the European Championships on 26 August, placing third. Chastened by this lack of success, Bannister started to train harder and more seriously.
His increased attention to training paid quick dividends, as he won a mile race in 4:09.9 on 30 December. Then in 1951 at the Penn Relays
, Bannister broke away from the pack with a 56.7 final lap, finishing in 4:08.3. Then, in his biggest test to date, he won a mile race on 14 July in 4:07.8 at the AAA Championships at White City before 47,000 people. The time set a meet record and he defeated defending champion Bill Nankeville
in the process.
Bannister suffered defeat, however, when Yugoslavia's
Andrija Otenhajmer, aware of Bannister's final-lap kick, took a 1500 m race in Belgrade
25 August out at near-record pace, forcing Bannister to close the gap by the bell lap. Otenhajmer won in 3:47.0, though Bannister set a personal best finishing second in 3:48.4. Bannister was no longer seen as invincible.
His confidence soon dissipated as it was announced there would be semifinals for the 1500 m at the Olympics, and he knew that this favoured runners who had much deeper training regimens than he did. When he ran his semifinal, Bannister finished fifth and thereby qualified for the final, but he felt "blown and unhappy."
The 1500 m final on 26 July would prove to be one of the more dramatic in Olympic history. The race was not decided until the final metres, Josy Barthel
of Luxembourg
prevailing in an Olympic-record 3:45.28 (3:45.1 by official hand-timing) with the next seven runners all under the old record. Bannister finished fourth, out of the medals, but set a British record of 3:46.30 (3:46.0) in the process.
.
On 2 May 1953, he made an attempt on the British record at Oxford
. Paced by Chris Chataway, Bannister ran 4:03.6, shattering Wooderson's 1945 standard. "This race made me realize that the four-minute mile was not out of reach," said Bannister.
On 27 June, a mile race was inserted onto the programme of the Surrey
schools athletic meeting. Australian runner Don Macmillan, ninth in the 1500 m at the 1952 Olympics, set a strong pace with 59.6 and 1:59.7 for two laps. He gave up after 2 laps, but Chris Brasher
took up the pace. Brasher had jogged the race, allowing Bannister to lap him so he could be a fresh pace-setter. At 3/4 mile, Bannister was at 3:01.8, the record—and first sub-four-minute mile—in reach. But the effort fell short with a finish in 4:02.0, a time bettered by only Andersson and Hägg. British officials would not allow this performance to stand as a British record, which, Bannister felt in retrospect, was a good decision. "My feeling as I look back is one of great relief that I did not run a four-minute mile under such artificial circumstances," he said.
But other runners were making attempts at the four-minute barrier and coming close as well. American
Wes Santee
ran 4:02.4 on 5 June, the fourth-fastest mile ever. And at the end of the year, Australia
n John Landy
ran 4:02.0.
Then early in 1954, Landy made some more attempts at the distance. On 21 January, he ran 4:02.4 in Melbourne
, then 4:02.6 on 23 February, and at the end of the Australian season on 19 April he ran 4:02.6 again.
Bannister had been following Landy's attempts and was certain his Australian rival would succeed with each one. But knowing that Landy's season-closing attempt on 19 April would be his last until he travelled to Finland
for another attempt, Bannister knew he had to make his attempt soon.
This historic event took place on 6 May 1954 during a meet between British AAA and Oxford University at Iffley Road Track
in Oxford
. It was watched by about 3,000 spectators. With winds up to 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) prior to the event, Bannister had said twice that he favoured not running, to conserve his energy and efforts to break the 4-minute barrier; he would try again at another meet. However, the winds dropped just before the race was scheduled to begin, and Bannister did run. Two other runners, Brasher and Chataway, provided pacing while completing the race. Both went on to establish their own track careers. The race was broadcast live by BBC Radio
and commented on by Harold Abrahams
, of Chariots of Fire
fame.
The stadium announcer for the race was Norris McWhirter
, who went on to co-publish and co-edit the Guinness Book of Records. He excited the crowd by delaying the announcement of the time Bannister ran as long as possible:
The roar of the crowd drowned out the rest of the announcement. Bannister's time was 3 min 59.4 sec.
The claim that a 4-minute mile was once thought to be impossible by informed observers was and is a widely propagated myth created by sportswriters and debunked by Bannister himself in his memoir, The Four Minute Mile (1955). The reason the myth took hold was that four minutes was a nice round number which was slightly better (1.4 seconds) than the world record for nine years, longer than it probably otherwise would have been because of the effect of World War II
in interrupting athletic progress in the combatant countries. The Swedish runners Gunder Hägg
and Arne Andersson
, in a series of head-to-head races in the period 1942-45, had already lowered the world mile record by 5 seconds to the pre-Bannister record. (See Mile run world record progression.) What is still impressive to knowledgeable track fans is that Bannister ran a four-minute mile on very low-mileage training by modern standards.
Just 46 days later on 21 June in Turku
, Finland, Bannister's record was broken by his rival Landy with a time of 3 min 57.9 s, which the IAAF ratified as 3 min 58.0 s due to the rounding rules then in effect.
On 7 August, at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
in Vancouver
, B.C., Bannister, running for England, competed against Landy for the first time in a race billed as "The Miracle Mile". They were the only two men in the world to have broken the 4-minute barrier, with Landy still holding the world record. Landy led for most of the race, building a lead of 10 yards in the third lap (of four), but was overtaken on the last bend, and Bannister won in 3 min 58.8 s, with Landy 0.8 s behind in 3 min 59.6 s. Bannister and Landy have both pointed out that the crucial moment of the race was that at the moment when Bannister decided to try to pass Landy, Landy looked over his left shoulder to gauge Bannister's position and Bannister burst past him on the right, never relinquishing the lead. A larger-than-life bronze sculpture of the two men at this moment was created by Vancouver
sculptor Jack Harman in 1967 from a photograph by Vancouver Sun photographer Charlie Warner and stood for many years at the entrance to Empire Stadium; after the stadium was demolished the sculpture was moved a short distance away to the Hastings and Renfrew entrance of the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) fairgrounds. Regarding this sculpture, Landy quipped: "While Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back, I am probably the only one ever turned into bronze for looking back."
Bannister went on that season to win the "metric mile
", the 1,500 m, at the European Championships in Bern on 29 August, with a championship record in a time of 3 min 43.8 s. He then retired from athletics to concentrate on his work as a junior doctor and to pursue a career in neurology
.
) and was knighted for this service in 1975. Under his aegis, central and local government funding of sports centres and other sports facilities was rapidly increased, and he also initiated the first testing for use of anabolic steroids in sport.
's sports correspondent Rob Bonnet
. At the conclusion of the interview, Bannister was asked whether he looked back on the sub-4-minute mile as the most important achievement of his life. Bannister replied to the effect that no, he rather saw his subsequent forty years of practising as neurologist
and some of the new procedures he introduced as being more significant. His major contribution in academic medicine was in the field of autonomic failure
, an area of neurology
focusing on illnesses characterised by certain automatic responses of the nervous system (for example, elevated heart rate when standing up) not occurring.
For his efforts, Sir Roger Bannister was also made the inaugural recipient of the Sports Illustrated
Sportsman of the Year
award in 1955 (he was given the award as the 1954 Sportsman of the Year, but it was awarded in January 1955) and is one of the few non-Americans recognised by the American-published magazine as such.
In a UK poll conducted by Channel 4
in 2002, the British public voted Bannister's historic sub-4-minute mile #13 in the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.
Sir Roger Bannister is the subject of the ESPN movie "Four Minutes" (2005). This film is a dramatisation, its major departures from the factual record being the creation of a fictional character as Bannister's coach, who was actually Franz Stampfl
, an Austria
n, and secondly his meeting his wife, Moyra Jacobsson, in the early 1950s when in fact they met in London only a few months before the Miracle Mile itself took place.
The 50th anniversary of Sir Roger's achievement was marked by a commemorative British 50-pence coin. The reverse of the coin shows the legs of a runner and a stopwatch (stopped at 3:59.4).
Bannister, arguably the most famous record-setter in the mile, is also the man who held the record for the shortest period of time, at least since the IAAF started to ratify records.
At St Mary's Hospital (London)
, Imperial College School of Medicine
have named a lecture theatre after Dr Bannister, with the stopwatch used to time the race on display, stopped at 3:59. Sir Roger has also given his name to both the trophy presented to the winning team in the annual Imperial College School of Medicine
vs Imperial College London
athletics Varsity match, as well as the award giving to the graduating doctor of Imperial College School of Medicine
who has achieved most in the sporting community.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 23 March 1929) is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
former athlete best known for running the first recorded mile
Mile run
The mile run is a middle-distance foot race which is among the more popular events in track running.The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races...
in less than 4 minutes
Four-minute mile
In the sport of athletics, the four-minute mile is the act of completing the mile run in less than four minutes. It was first achieved in 1954 by Roger Bannister in 3:59.4. The 'four minute barrier' has since been broken by many male athletes, and is now the standard of all male professional...
. Bannister became a distinguished neurologist
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
and Master
Master (college)
A Master is the title of the head of some colleges and other educational institutions. This applies especially at some colleges and institutions at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge .- See also :* Master A Master (or in female form Mistress) is the title of the head of some...
of Pembroke College, Oxford
Pembroke College, Oxford
Pembroke College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located in Pembroke Square. As of 2009, Pembroke had an estimated financial endowment of £44.9 million.-History:...
, before retiring in 2001.
Sir Roger was the inaugural recipient of the Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
Sportsman of the Year
Sportsman of the Year
Since its inception in 1954, Sports Illustrated magazine has annually presented the "Sportsman of the Year" award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Both Americans and non-Americans are eligible, though in the past the...
award in January 1955 (1954 Sportsman of the Year).
Early life
Roger Bannister was born in HarrowHarrow, London
Harrow is an area in the London Borough of Harrow, northwest London, United Kingdom. It is a suburban area and is situated 12.2 miles northwest of Charing Cross...
, England. He went to Vaughan Primary school in Harrow before going on to be educated at the City of Bath Boys' School, University College School
University College School
University College School, generally known as UCS, is an Independent school charity situated in Hampstead, north west London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views...
, London, Exeter College
Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...
and Merton College
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...
, Oxford, and at St Mary's Hospital Medical School
St Mary's Hospital Medical School
St Mary's is the youngest of the constituent schools of Imperial College, London, founded in 1854 as part of the new hospital in Paddington. During its existence in the 1980s and 90s, it was the most popular medical school in the country, with an application to place ratio of 27:1 in 1996.St Mary's...
(now part of Imperial College London
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
).
Early running career
Bannister was inspired by miler Sydney WoodersonSydney Wooderson
Sydney Charles Wooderson MBE , dubbed "The Mighty Atom", was an English athlete whose peak career was in the 1930s and 1940s. He was one of Britain’s greatest middle-distance runners and had an amazing sprint finish...
's remarkable comeback in 1945. Eight years after setting the mile record and seeing it surpassed during the war years by the great Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
runners Arne Andersson
Arne Andersson
Arne Andersson was a Swedish middle distance runner who became famous for his rivalry with his compatriot Gunder Hägg in the 1940s. Andersson set a 1500 metres world record in Gothenburg in August 1943 with a time of 3:45.0 min...
and Gunder Hägg
Gunder Hägg
Gunder Hägg was a Swedish runner and multiple world record breaker of the 1940s. Gunder Hägg set over a dozen middle distance world records at events ranging from 1500 metres to 5000 meters, including three at both the 1500 meters and the mile, one at 3000 meters and one at 5000 meters.Hägg and...
, Wooderson regained his old form and challenged Andersson over the distance in several races. Wooderson lost to Andersson but set a British record of 4:04.2 in Göteborg on 9 September.
Like Wooderson, Bannister would ultimately set a mile record, see it broken, and then set a new personal best slower than the new record.
Bannister started his running career at Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
in the autumn of 1946 at the age of 17. He had never worn running spikes previously or run on a track. His training was light, even compared to the standards of the day, but he showed promise in running a mile in 1947 in 4:24.6 on only three weekly half-hour training sessions.
He was selected as an Olympic "possible" in 1948 but declined as he felt he was not ready to compete at that level. However, he was further inspired to become a great miler by watching the 1948 Olympics
1948 Summer Olympics
The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in London, England, United Kingdom. After a 12-year hiatus because of World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics since the 1936 Games in Berlin...
. He set his training goals on the 1952 Olympics
1952 Summer Olympics
The 1952 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Helsinki, Finland in 1952. Helsinki had been earlier given the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were cancelled due to World War II...
in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
.
In 1949, he improved in the 880 yards to 1:52.7 and won several mile races in 4:11. Then, after a period of six weeks with no training, he came in third at White City
White City Stadium
White City Stadium was built in White City, London, for the 1908 Summer Olympics, often seen as the precursor to the modern seater stadium and noted for hosting the finish of the first modern distance marathon. It also hosted speedway and a match at the 1966 World Cup, before the stadium was...
in 4:14.2.
The year 1950 saw more improvements as he finished a relatively slow 4:13 mile on 1 July with an impressive 57.5 last quarter. Then, he ran the AAA 880 in 1:52.1, losing to Arthur Wint
Arthur Wint
Competitor for JamaicaArthur Stanley Wint was the first Jamaican Olympic gold medalist, winning the 400 m at 1948 Summer Olympics....
, and then ran 1:50.7 for the 800 m at the European Championships on 26 August, placing third. Chastened by this lack of success, Bannister started to train harder and more seriously.
His increased attention to training paid quick dividends, as he won a mile race in 4:09.9 on 30 December. Then in 1951 at the Penn Relays
Penn Relays
The Penn Relays is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
, Bannister broke away from the pack with a 56.7 final lap, finishing in 4:08.3. Then, in his biggest test to date, he won a mile race on 14 July in 4:07.8 at the AAA Championships at White City before 47,000 people. The time set a meet record and he defeated defending champion Bill Nankeville
Bill Nankeville
Bill Nankeville is a British national champion mile runner and won the AAA mile title four times in five years between 1948 and 1952, his best recorded time was 4:08.8 set in 1949...
in the process.
Bannister suffered defeat, however, when Yugoslavia's
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
Andrija Otenhajmer, aware of Bannister's final-lap kick, took a 1500 m race in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
25 August out at near-record pace, forcing Bannister to close the gap by the bell lap. Otenhajmer won in 3:47.0, though Bannister set a personal best finishing second in 3:48.4. Bannister was no longer seen as invincible.
The 1952 Olympics
Bannister avoided racing after the 1951 season until late in the spring of 1952, saving his energy for Helsinki and the Olympics. He ran an 880 on 28 May in 1:53.00, then a 4:10.6 mile time-trial on 7 June, proclaiming himself satisfied with the results. At the AAA championships, he skipped the mile and won the 880 in 1:51.5. Then, 10 days before the Olympic final, he ran a 3/4 mile time trial in 2:52.9, which gave him confidence that he was ready for the Olympics as he considered the time to be the equivalent of a four-minute mile.His confidence soon dissipated as it was announced there would be semifinals for the 1500 m at the Olympics, and he knew that this favoured runners who had much deeper training regimens than he did. When he ran his semifinal, Bannister finished fifth and thereby qualified for the final, but he felt "blown and unhappy."
The 1500 m final on 26 July would prove to be one of the more dramatic in Olympic history. The race was not decided until the final metres, Josy Barthel
Josy Barthel
Joseph Barthel was a Luxembourgish athlete. He was the surprise winner of the Men's 1500 metres at the 1952 Summer Olympics, and the only athlete from Luxembourg to have won a gold medal at the Olympics...
of Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
prevailing in an Olympic-record 3:45.28 (3:45.1 by official hand-timing) with the next seven runners all under the old record. Bannister finished fourth, out of the medals, but set a British record of 3:46.30 (3:46.0) in the process.
Bannister sets a new goal
After his failure at the 1952 Olympics, Bannister spent two months deciding whether to give up running. He set himself on a new goal: to be the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Accordingly, he intensified his training and did hard intervalsInterval training
Interval training is a type of physical training that involves bursts of high-intensity work interspersed with periods of low-intensity work...
.
On 2 May 1953, he made an attempt on the British record at Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. Paced by Chris Chataway, Bannister ran 4:03.6, shattering Wooderson's 1945 standard. "This race made me realize that the four-minute mile was not out of reach," said Bannister.
On 27 June, a mile race was inserted onto the programme of the Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
schools athletic meeting. Australian runner Don Macmillan, ninth in the 1500 m at the 1952 Olympics, set a strong pace with 59.6 and 1:59.7 for two laps. He gave up after 2 laps, but Chris Brasher
Chris Brasher
Christopher William "Chris" Brasher CBE was a British athlete, sports journalist and co-founder of the London Marathon.-History:...
took up the pace. Brasher had jogged the race, allowing Bannister to lap him so he could be a fresh pace-setter. At 3/4 mile, Bannister was at 3:01.8, the record—and first sub-four-minute mile—in reach. But the effort fell short with a finish in 4:02.0, a time bettered by only Andersson and Hägg. British officials would not allow this performance to stand as a British record, which, Bannister felt in retrospect, was a good decision. "My feeling as I look back is one of great relief that I did not run a four-minute mile under such artificial circumstances," he said.
But other runners were making attempts at the four-minute barrier and coming close as well. American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Wes Santee
Wes Santee
David Wesley Santee was an American middle distance runner and athlete who competed mainly in the 1,500 meters and mile events....
ran 4:02.4 on 5 June, the fourth-fastest mile ever. And at the end of the year, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n John Landy
John Landy
John Michael Landy, AC, CVO, MBE is an Australian former Olympic track athlete. He was the second man to break the four-minute mile barrier in the mile run, and he held the world records for the 1500 metre run and the mile race...
ran 4:02.0.
Then early in 1954, Landy made some more attempts at the distance. On 21 January, he ran 4:02.4 in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, then 4:02.6 on 23 February, and at the end of the Australian season on 19 April he ran 4:02.6 again.
Bannister had been following Landy's attempts and was certain his Australian rival would succeed with each one. But knowing that Landy's season-closing attempt on 19 April would be his last until he travelled to Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
for another attempt, Bannister knew he had to make his attempt soon.
The sub-4-minute mile
Roger Bannister running track
The Roger Bannister running track, also known as the Oxford University track, is a 400-metres athletics running track and stadium in Oxford, England. It was where Sir Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile on 6 May 1954, when it was known as the Iffley Road track...
in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. It was watched by about 3,000 spectators. With winds up to 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) prior to the event, Bannister had said twice that he favoured not running, to conserve his energy and efforts to break the 4-minute barrier; he would try again at another meet. However, the winds dropped just before the race was scheduled to begin, and Bannister did run. Two other runners, Brasher and Chataway, provided pacing while completing the race. Both went on to establish their own track careers. The race was broadcast live by BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
and commented on by Harold Abrahams
Harold Abrahams
Harold Maurice Abrahams, CBE, was a British athlete of Jewish origin. He was Olympic champion in 1924 in the 100 metres sprint, a feat depicted in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire.-Early life:...
, of Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
fame.
The stadium announcer for the race was Norris McWhirter
Norris McWhirter
Norris Dewar McWhirter, CBE was a writer, political activist, co-founder of the Freedom Association, and a television presenter. He and his twin brother, Ross, were known internationally for the Guinness Book of Records, a book they wrote and annually updated together between 1955 and 1975...
, who went on to co-publish and co-edit the Guinness Book of Records. He excited the crowd by delaying the announcement of the time Bannister ran as long as possible:
The roar of the crowd drowned out the rest of the announcement. Bannister's time was 3 min 59.4 sec.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in interrupting athletic progress in the combatant countries. The Swedish runners Gunder Hägg
Gunder Hägg
Gunder Hägg was a Swedish runner and multiple world record breaker of the 1940s. Gunder Hägg set over a dozen middle distance world records at events ranging from 1500 metres to 5000 meters, including three at both the 1500 meters and the mile, one at 3000 meters and one at 5000 meters.Hägg and...
and Arne Andersson
Arne Andersson
Arne Andersson was a Swedish middle distance runner who became famous for his rivalry with his compatriot Gunder Hägg in the 1940s. Andersson set a 1500 metres world record in Gothenburg in August 1943 with a time of 3:45.0 min...
, in a series of head-to-head races in the period 1942-45, had already lowered the world mile record by 5 seconds to the pre-Bannister record. (See Mile run world record progression.) What is still impressive to knowledgeable track fans is that Bannister ran a four-minute mile on very low-mileage training by modern standards.
Just 46 days later on 21 June in Turku
Turku
Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...
, Finland, Bannister's record was broken by his rival Landy with a time of 3 min 57.9 s, which the IAAF ratified as 3 min 58.0 s due to the rounding rules then in effect.
On 7 August, at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
The 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Vancouver, in the province of British Columbia in Canada, from 30 July-7 August 1954. These were the first games since the name change from British Empire Games took effect in 1952....
in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, B.C., Bannister, running for England, competed against Landy for the first time in a race billed as "The Miracle Mile". They were the only two men in the world to have broken the 4-minute barrier, with Landy still holding the world record. Landy led for most of the race, building a lead of 10 yards in the third lap (of four), but was overtaken on the last bend, and Bannister won in 3 min 58.8 s, with Landy 0.8 s behind in 3 min 59.6 s. Bannister and Landy have both pointed out that the crucial moment of the race was that at the moment when Bannister decided to try to pass Landy, Landy looked over his left shoulder to gauge Bannister's position and Bannister burst past him on the right, never relinquishing the lead. A larger-than-life bronze sculpture of the two men at this moment was created by Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
sculptor Jack Harman in 1967 from a photograph by Vancouver Sun photographer Charlie Warner and stood for many years at the entrance to Empire Stadium; after the stadium was demolished the sculpture was moved a short distance away to the Hastings and Renfrew entrance of the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) fairgrounds. Regarding this sculpture, Landy quipped: "While Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back, I am probably the only one ever turned into bronze for looking back."
Bannister went on that season to win the "metric mile
Metric mile
Metric mile is a distance which approximates one statute mile at a round figure of metres . The term is most commonly used in track running and swimming....
", the 1,500 m, at the European Championships in Bern on 29 August, with a championship record in a time of 3 min 43.8 s. He then retired from athletics to concentrate on his work as a junior doctor and to pursue a career in neurology
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
.
Sports Council and knighthood
He later became the first Chairman of the Sports Council (now called Sport EnglandSport England
Sport England is the brand name for the English Sports Council and is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
) and was knighted for this service in 1975. Under his aegis, central and local government funding of sports centres and other sports facilities was rapidly increased, and he also initiated the first testing for use of anabolic steroids in sport.
Legacy
On the 50th anniversary of running the sub-4-minute mile, Bannister was interviewed by the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's sports correspondent Rob Bonnet
Rob Bonnet
Rob Bonnet is a BBC television journalist, presenting sport bulletins on BBC News services and Extratime, an interview programme on BBC World and BBC News.-Early life:...
. At the conclusion of the interview, Bannister was asked whether he looked back on the sub-4-minute mile as the most important achievement of his life. Bannister replied to the effect that no, he rather saw his subsequent forty years of practising as neurologist
Neurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
and some of the new procedures he introduced as being more significant. His major contribution in academic medicine was in the field of autonomic failure
Pure autonomic failure
Pure autonomic failure, also known as Bradbury-Eggleston syndrome or idiopathic orthostatic hypotension, is a form of dysautonomia that first occurs in middle age or later in life; men are affected more often than women...
, an area of neurology
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
focusing on illnesses characterised by certain automatic responses of the nervous system (for example, elevated heart rate when standing up) not occurring.
For his efforts, Sir Roger Bannister was also made the inaugural recipient of the Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
Sportsman of the Year
Sportsman of the Year
Since its inception in 1954, Sports Illustrated magazine has annually presented the "Sportsman of the Year" award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Both Americans and non-Americans are eligible, though in the past the...
award in 1955 (he was given the award as the 1954 Sportsman of the Year, but it was awarded in January 1955) and is one of the few non-Americans recognised by the American-published magazine as such.
In a UK poll conducted by Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
in 2002, the British public voted Bannister's historic sub-4-minute mile #13 in the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.
Sir Roger Bannister is the subject of the ESPN movie "Four Minutes" (2005). This film is a dramatisation, its major departures from the factual record being the creation of a fictional character as Bannister's coach, who was actually Franz Stampfl
Franz Stampfl
Franz F. L. Stampfl MBE was one of the world's leading athletics coaches in the twentieth century. He pioneered a scientific system of Interval Training which became very popular with sprint and middle distance athletes.-Early life:Stampfl was born in the capital of then Austro-Hungarian Empire...
, an Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n, and secondly his meeting his wife, Moyra Jacobsson, in the early 1950s when in fact they met in London only a few months before the Miracle Mile itself took place.
The 50th anniversary of Sir Roger's achievement was marked by a commemorative British 50-pence coin. The reverse of the coin shows the legs of a runner and a stopwatch (stopped at 3:59.4).
Bannister, arguably the most famous record-setter in the mile, is also the man who held the record for the shortest period of time, at least since the IAAF started to ratify records.
Display of memorabilia
In the gallery of Pembroke College dining hall there are three cabinets containing approximately 100 exhibits covering Bannister's athletic career and including some academic highlights.At St Mary's Hospital (London)
St Mary's Hospital (London)
St Mary's Hospital is a hospital located in Paddington, London, England that was founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it is operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which also operates Charing Cross Hospital, Hammersmith Hospital,...
, Imperial College School of Medicine
Imperial College School of Medicine
The Imperial College School of Medicine is the medical school of Imperial College London in England, and one of the United Hospitals....
have named a lecture theatre after Dr Bannister, with the stopwatch used to time the race on display, stopped at 3:59. Sir Roger has also given his name to both the trophy presented to the winning team in the annual Imperial College School of Medicine
Imperial College School of Medicine
The Imperial College School of Medicine is the medical school of Imperial College London in England, and one of the United Hospitals....
vs Imperial College London
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
athletics Varsity match, as well as the award giving to the graduating doctor of Imperial College School of Medicine
Imperial College School of Medicine
The Imperial College School of Medicine is the medical school of Imperial College London in England, and one of the United Hospitals....
who has achieved most in the sporting community.
Quotations
- The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.
- Roger Bannister on breaking the 4-minute mile (Cameron, 1993: 185): "No longer conscious of my movement, I discovered a new unity with nature. I had found a new source of power and beauty, a source I never dreamt existed."
- "Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle--when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."
External links
- Roger Bannister and the Four-Minute Mile, original reports from The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
. - Sir Roger Bannister is Patron of the Multiple System Atrophy Trust.
- Freeman of London Borough of Harrow