1954 : FIRST FOUR-MINUTE MILE:
In Oxford, England, 25-year-old medical student Roger Bannister cracks
track and field's most notorious barrier: the four-minute mile.
Bannister, who was running for the Amateur Athletic Association
against his alma mater, Oxford University, won the mile race with a
time of 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds.
For years, so many athletes had tried and failed to run a mile in less
than four minutes that people made it out to be a physical
impossibility. The world record for a mile was 4 minutes and 1.3
seconds, set by Gunder Hagg of Sweden in 1945. Despite, or perhaps
because of, the psychological mystique surrounding the four-minute
barrier, several runners in the early 1950s dedicated themselves to
being the first to cross into the three-minute zone.
Roger Bannister, born in Harrow, England, in 1929, was a top
mile-runner while a student at the University of Oxford and at St.
Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. In 1951 and 1953, he won
British championships in the mile run. As he prepared himself for his
first competitive race of the 1954 season, Bannister researched the
mechanics of running and trained using new scientific methods he
developed. On May 6, 1954, he came to the Iffley Road track in Oxford
for the annual match between the Amateur Athletic Association and
Oxford University. Conditions were far from ideal; it had been windy
and raining. A considerable crosswind was blowing across the track as
the mile race was set to begin.
At 6 p.m., the starting gun was fired. In a carefully planned race,
Bannister was aided by Chris Brasher, a former Cambridge runner who
acted as a pacemaker. For the first half-mile, Brasher led the field,
with Bannister close behind, and then another runner took up the lead
and reached the three-quarter-mile mark in 3 minutes 0.4 seconds, with
Bannister at 3 minutes 0.7 seconds. Bannister took the lead with about
350 yards to go and passed an unofficial timekeeper at the 1,500-meter
mark in 3 minutes 43 seconds, thus equaling the world's record for
that distance. Thereafter, Bannister threw in all his reserves and
broke the tape in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. As soon as the first part of
his score was announced--"three minutes..."--the crowd erupted in
pandemonium.
Bannister went on to win British and Empire championships in the mile
run, and the European title in the 1,500-meter event in 1954. At the
end of the year, Bannister retired from athletic competition to pursue
his medical career full time and in 1955 recounted his experiences in
the book The Four Minute Mile. He later earned a medical degree from
Oxford and became a neurologist. In 1975, he was knighted by Queen
Elizabeth II.
His world record in the mile did not stand long, and the record
continued to be lowered with increasingly controlled climatic and
surface conditions, more accurate timing devices, and improvements in
training and running techniques. A "sub-four" is still a notable time,
but top international runners now routinely accomplish the feat.
Because a mile is not a metric measurement, it is not a regular track
event nor featured in the Olympics. It continues, however, to be run
by many top runners as a glamour event.
history.com/tdih.do
1937 : The Hindenburg disaster
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4978
1994 : English Channel tunnel opens
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4979
############################################
In Oxford, England, 25-year-old medical student Roger Bannister cracks
track and field's most notorious barrier: the four-minute mile.
Bannister, who was running for the Amateur Athletic Association
against his alma mater, Oxford University, won the mile race with a
time of 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds.
For years, so many athletes had tried and failed to run a mile in less
than four minutes that people made it out to be a physical
impossibility. The world record for a mile was 4 minutes and 1.3
seconds, set by Gunder Hagg of Sweden in 1945. Despite, or perhaps
because of, the psychological mystique surrounding the four-minute
barrier, several runners in the early 1950s dedicated themselves to
being the first to cross into the three-minute zone.
Roger Bannister, born in Harrow, England, in 1929, was a top
mile-runner while a student at the University of Oxford and at St.
Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. In 1951 and 1953, he won
British championships in the mile run. As he prepared himself for his
first competitive race of the 1954 season, Bannister researched the
mechanics of running and trained using new scientific methods he
developed. On May 6, 1954, he came to the Iffley Road track in Oxford
for the annual match between the Amateur Athletic Association and
Oxford University. Conditions were far from ideal; it had been windy
and raining. A considerable crosswind was blowing across the track as
the mile race was set to begin.
At 6 p.m., the starting gun was fired. In a carefully planned race,
Bannister was aided by Chris Brasher, a former Cambridge runner who
acted as a pacemaker. For the first half-mile, Brasher led the field,
with Bannister close behind, and then another runner took up the lead
and reached the three-quarter-mile mark in 3 minutes 0.4 seconds, with
Bannister at 3 minutes 0.7 seconds. Bannister took the lead with about
350 yards to go and passed an unofficial timekeeper at the 1,500-meter
mark in 3 minutes 43 seconds, thus equaling the world's record for
that distance. Thereafter, Bannister threw in all his reserves and
broke the tape in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. As soon as the first part of
his score was announced--"three minutes..."--the crowd erupted in
pandemonium.
Bannister went on to win British and Empire championships in the mile
run, and the European title in the 1,500-meter event in 1954. At the
end of the year, Bannister retired from athletic competition to pursue
his medical career full time and in 1955 recounted his experiences in
the book The Four Minute Mile. He later earned a medical degree from
Oxford and became a neurologist. In 1975, he was knighted by Queen
Elizabeth II.
His world record in the mile did not stand long, and the record
continued to be lowered with increasingly controlled climatic and
surface conditions, more accurate timing devices, and improvements in
training and running techniques. A "sub-four" is still a notable time,
but top international runners now routinely accomplish the feat.
Because a mile is not a metric measurement, it is not a regular track
event nor featured in the Olympics. It continues, however, to be run
by many top runners as a glamour event.
history.com/tdih.do
1937 : The Hindenburg disaster
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4978
1994 : English Channel tunnel opens
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4979
############################################
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