British track star was the first to break 4-minute mile barrier
Roger Bannister, the first runner to break the 4minute barrier in the mile, has died. He was 88.
Dr. Bannister’s family said in a statement that he died peacefully on Saturday in Oxford, the English city where he cracked the feat many had thought humanly impossible ona windy afternoon in 1954.
Dr. Bannister, who went on to pursue a long and distinguished medical career, had been slowed by Parkinson’s disease in recent years.
British Prime Minister Theresa May remembered Dr. Bannister as a “British sporting icon whose achievements were an inspiration to us all. He will be greatly missed.”
Helped by two pacesetters, Dr. Bannister clocked 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds over four laps at Oxford’s Iffley Road track on May 6, 1954, to break the 4-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 4-minute mile,” Dr. Bannister said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2012.
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 still suffering through post war austerity.
“It became a symbol of attempting a challenge in the physical world of something hitherto thought impossible,” Dr. Bannister said as he approached the 50th anniversary of the feat. “I’d like to see it as a metaphor not only for sport, but for life and seeking challenges.”
He might not have set the milestone but for the disappointment of finishing without a medal in the 1,500 meters, known as the metric mile, in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. Instead of retiring from the sport, he decided to chase the 4minute mark.
Swedish runner Gundar Haegg’s mile time of 4:01.4 had stood for nine years, but in 1954 Dr. Bannister, Australian rival John Landy and others were threatening to break it.
Dr. Bannister’s chance finally came on a wet, cool, blustery May afternoon during a meet between Oxford and the Amateur Athletic Association.
With Chris Brasher setting the pace on the cinder track, they ran a first lap in 57.5 seconds, then 60.7 — 1:58.2 for the half-mile. Chris Chataway, a distance specialist, paced a third lap of 62.3 — 3:00.4. Dr. Bannister would need to run thefinal lap in 59 seconds.
With 250 yards to go, Dr. Bannister, with his long arms and legs pumping and his lungs gasping for oxygen, surged past Mr. Chataway.
“The world seemed to stand still, or did not exist,” he wrote in his book, “The First Four Minutes.”
“The only reality was the next 200 yards of track under my feet. The tape meant finality — extinction perhaps. I felt at that moment that it was my chance to do one thing supremely well. I drove on, impelled by a combination of fear and pride.”
After Dr. Bannister crossed the finish line, the announcer read out the time: “3 … .” The rest was drowned out by the roar of the crowd.
The record lasted just 46 days, as Mr. Landy ran 3:57.9 in Turku, Finland, on June 21, 1954. That set the stage for the showdown between Dr. Bannister and Mr. Landy at the Empire Games, now called the Commonwealth Games, in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Aug. 9, 1954.
Mr. Landy set a fast pace, leading by as much as 15 yards before Dr. Bannister caught up as the bell rang for the final lap.
Dr. Bannister won the race in 3:58.8, with Mr. Landy secondin 3:59. It was the first time twomen had run under 4 minutes in the same race.
Dr. Bannister capped his brilliant summer of 1954 by winning the 1,500 meters at the European Championships in Bern, Switzerland, in a games record of 3:43.8.
Dr. Bannister, who was chosen as Sports Illustrated’s first Sportsman of the Year in 1954, retired from competition and pursued a full-time career in neurology. As chairman of the Sports Council between 1971 and 1974, he developed the first test for anabolic steroids.
“None of my athletics was the greatest achievement,” he said. “My medical work has been my achievement and my family with 14 grandchildren. Those are real achievements.”
Dr. Bannister also served as master of Oxford’s Pembroke College from 1985-93.
He married Moyra Jacobsson, an artist, in 1955.