Sub-four minute mile legend dies
ROGER BANNISTER: SET WORLD RECORD IN 1954 There’s not a single athlete of my generation who was not inspired by Roger, says Seb Coe.
Record-breaking British athlete Roger Bannister, the first man to run a mile in under four minutes, has died aged 88, his family said yesterday. “Sir Roger Bannister died peacefully in Oxford on March 3, 2018, aged 88, surrounded by his family who were as loved by him as he was loved by them,” his family said. “He banked his treasure in the hearts of his friends,” they added.
Bannister gained global sporting glory on May 6, 1954, when he ran the mile in 3min 59.4sec at the Iffley Road track in Oxford.
Seb Coe, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, said Bannister’s death marked “a day of intense sadness both for our nation and for all of us in athletics. There is not a single athlete of my generation who was not inspired by Roger and his achievements both on and off the track”.
Half a century after Bannister’s record, the Royal Mint celebrated the occasion by issuing a 50 pence coin showing an athlete’s running legs against a stopwatch.
British Prime Minister Theresa May described Bannister as “a great British sporting icon”.
Despite being famed for breaking the four-minute barrier, Bannister said he felt a greater sense of achievement winning gold at the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, beating his great rival Australian John Landy in a race later dubbed the “Miracle Mile”. “I think that racing in the Olympics and Commonwealths is more important than breaking records,” he said in 2014.
The current mile record has since 1999 been held by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj with a time of 3:43.13.
But Bannister’s achievement has continued to inspire athletics enthusiasts, with the shoes he wore to break the four-minute barrier selling for a record £266 500 (R4.8 million) in September 2015.
Bannister is a great Britsh sporting icon.