![]() ![]() Bannister regarded that as his greatest race because it came in a competitive championship against his fiercest rival. “It’s amazing that more people have climbed Mount Everest than have broken the 4-minute mile,” Bannister said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2012.īannister followed up his 4-minute milestone a few months later by beating Australia’s John Landy in the “Miracle Mile” or “Mile of the Century” at the Empire Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, with both men going under 4 minutes. He will be greatly missed.”īannister’s time of 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds captured the world’s imagination and buoyed the spirits of Britons still suffering through post-war austerity. “He banked his treasure in the hearts of his friends.”īritish Prime Minister Theresa May remembered Bannister as a “British sporting icon whose achievements were an inspiration to us all. He was “surrounded by his family who were as loved by him as he was loved by them,” the family said in a statement on Sunday. The black-and-white image of Bannister, eyes closed, head back, mouth wide open, straining across the tape at Oxford’s Iffley Road track, endures as a defining snapshot of a transcendent moment in track and field history.īannister died peacefully in Oxford on Saturday at the age of 88. The 3 was all that mattered.īannister had just become the first runner to break the mythical 4-minute barrier in the mile - a feat of speed and endurance that stands as one of the seminal sporting achievements of the 20th century. The rest was drowned out by the roar of the crowd. His long arms and legs pumping, his lungs gasping for air, he put on a furious kick over the final 300 yards and nearly collapsed as he crossed the finish line. With two friends acting as pacemakers, Bannister churned around the cinder track four times. Bannister glanced up again and saw the flag fluttering oh-so-gently. ![]() ![]() Not exactly the ideal conditions for running four laps around a track faster than many thought humanly possible.Ī lanky Oxford medical student named Roger Bannister looked up at the white-and-red English flag whipping in the wind atop a nearby church and figured he would have to call off the record attempt.īut then, shortly after 6 p.m. London - It was a typical British afternoon in early May: wet, cool and blustery. A statement released Sunday March 4, 2018, on behalf of Bannister's family said Sir Roger Bannister died peacefully in Oxford on March 3, aged 88. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, FILE) ap file photographįILE - In this file photo, Britain's Roger Bannister hits the tape to break the four-minute mile in Oxford, England. A statement released on behalf of Bannister's family said Sir Roger Bannister died peacefully in Oxford on March 3 2018, aged 88. (AP Photo) ap file photographįILE- In this photo taken Monday, April 28, 2014, Roger Bannister, who as a young man was the first person to break the 4-minute barrier for the mile run in 1954, poses during an interview with The Associated Press at his home in Oxford, England. He has predicted that someone will run a 3 ½-minute-mile by the year 2,000. Banister is now a medical specialist and a Chairman of the British Government sponsored sports council. Roger Bannister, 45, looks back twenty years on March 5, 1974, as he displays a photo of him made at Iffley, England on when he smashed the four-minute-mile barrier to clock a new record of 3:59.4 on a cinder track. ![]()
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