Sir Roger Bannister: I’ve got Parkinson’s
SIR Roger Bannister has Parkinson’s disease, he revealed yesterday – just days before he celebrates the 60th anniversary of becoming the first man to break the four-minute mile.
The 85-year-old, who became a distinguished neurologist and expert on Parkinson’s, said: ‘There’s a gentle irony to it. I have looked after patients with so many neurological disorders that I am not surprised I have acquired an illness.
‘I’m being well looked after and I don’t intend to let it interfere with my other activities.’
Sir Roger said he was diagnosed with the incurable degenerative neurological disorder three years ago. Speaking to BBC Radio Oxford, he added: ‘As I once said when someone was commiserating with me, just consider the alternatives. That’s is the way I look at it.
‘I am aware of all the research. It will take some time before there is a breakthrough. But the management and drug treatments are improving.’
Asked if he felt he was deteriorating, he replied: ‘I’m having trouble walking. One of my pleasures in life has been walking. Intellectually I think and believe and hope that I’m not.’
Sir Roger was a 25-year- old medical student at Oxford University when he wrote his name into sporting history on May 6, 1954, running a mile in 3min 59.4sec. The feat has been described as the sporting equivalent of conquering Everest.
Sportsmail – Pages 90-91