At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 meters and finished in fourth place. This achievement strengthened his resolve to become the first athlete to finish the mile run in under four minutes. He accomplished this feat on 6 May 1954 at Iffley Road track in Oxford, with Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher providing the pacing.
When the announcer, Norris McWhirter, declared “The time was three…”, the cheers of the crowd drowned out Bannister’s exact time, which was 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds. He had attained this record with minimal training while practicing as a junior doctor. Bannister’s record lasted just 46 days.
Roger Bannister was Obsessed
He ran a mile in less than four minutes.
He didn’t accomplish this by running a mile as fast as he could.
He did it by setting out to run a mile in one second faster than four minutes.
Bannister analyzed the run, stride by stride. He knew how long each split needed to be. He had colleagues work in a relay, pacing him on every section of the mile.
The Thing to Get
He still showed people what was possible to do the impossible. He broke a world record that was on the books for 9 years!
And after he broke it, the mile was taken to another level. Herb Elliott dropped the record down to 3:54.5 within 4 years!
It was a psychological breakthrough!
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