Ran f irst sub-four-minute mile
British runner made history by accomplishing a feat that many had thought impossible.
Roger Bannister, the first runner to break the four-minute barrier in the mile, has died. He was 88.
He was “surrounded by his family who were as loved by him, as he was loved by them,” the family said in a statement announcing his death Sunday.
On May 6, 1954, Bannister clocked 3 minutes 59.4 seconds over four laps at Oxford’s Iffley Road track to break the four-minute mile — a test of speed and endurance that stands as one of the defining sporting achievements of the 20th century.
“It’s amazing that more people have climbed Mount Everest than have broken the four-minute mile,” Bannister said in 2012.
After Bannister crossed the finish line, the announcer read out the time: “Three...” The rest was drowned out by the roar of the crowd.
The enduring image of the lanky Oxford medical student — head tilted back, eyes closed and mouth agape as he strained across the finishing tape — captured the public’s imagination, made him a global celebrity and lifted the spirits of Britons.
A few months later he beat John Landy in the “Miracle Mile” at the Empire Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, as both men ran under four minutes. Bannister considered that win more satisfying than the first four-minute mile because it came in a competitive race against his greatest rival.
Bannister capped his brilliant summer of 1954 by winning the 1,500 meters at the European Championships in a games record of 3:43.8.
Bannister, chosen as Sports Illustrated’s first Sportsman of the Year, gave up running to pursue a distinguished medical career. He developed the first test for anabolic steroids.
“It became a symbol of attempting a challenge in the physical world of something hitherto thought impossible,” Bannister once said of cracking the four-minute mile. “I’d like to see it as a metaphor not only for sport, but for life and seeking challenges.”
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