Death of four-minute mile record breaker
ROGER Bannister, the first man to run a mile in under four minutes, has died at the age of 88.
Bannister achieved a feat widely viewed at the time as impossible by running a mile in three minutes and 59.4 seconds at the Iffley Road track in Oxford, England, on May 6, 1954.
The athlete, who also won a Commonwealth and European Championship gold medal that year, went on to become a leading neurologist. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2011.
He died on Saturday at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford – where he had trained at as a medical student.
His family said in a statement that he ‘died peacefully... surrounded by his family who were as loved by him as he was loved by them. He banked his treasure in the hearts of his friends’.
Sebastian Coe, who followed in Bannister’s footsteps by breaking the mile world record three times, paid tribute to an inspirational man, describing him as a ‘giant’.
‘On May 6, 1954, Roger made the impossible possible,’ Coe – now the president of athletics’ world governing body, the IAAF – said on iaaf.org. ‘One year after the coronation of a young Queen Elizabeth II and after man conquered Everest, Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile with the help of his friends Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher.
‘The world’s best runners had been attempting the four-minute barrier for a quarter of a century. It was as much of a psychological barrier as it was a physical barrier. Bannister’s assault allowed mankind to enter a world filled with new possibilities.
‘We have all lost a giant and, for many of us, a deep and close friendship.’
Four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah described Bannister as ‘always humble, supportive and encouraging’.
And women’s marathon world record-holder Paula Radcliffe tweeted: ‘Saddened to hear the news that we have lost one of the true pioneers.’