3:59.4
Each stride down the straight-away was one step closer to making history. As Roger Bannister sprinted down the final stretch of the Iffley Road Track on a May afternoon in 1954, the crowd roared with excitement. They were witnessing one of the greatest moments in the history of athletics.
Roger Bannister was born in London, UK, in 1929. As a child, Bannister loved to run “anywhere and everywhere”. He ran for his high school as a teenager, but it wasn’t until he began running for Oxford University that his running took flight. In 1952, he came close to a medal at the Helsinki Olympics, taking fourth for Britain in the 1500 meters. In the years following, he continued running while attending the Oxford’s medical school.
On the morning of May 6th of 1954, 25-year-old Bannister worked a morning shift at St.Mary’s Hospital. In the afternoon, he took a train to Oxford and enjoyed lunch – a ham and cheese salad – with friends. At 6pm, he stepped foot onto Oxford’s Iffley Road Track to race the one mile. Hundreds of spectators surrounded the track, anticipating a speedy, perhaps record-breaking race. The strong wind blowing across the exposed track field was enough to put the runners out of ease. Bannister considered not racing, but the winds dropped enough by the start of the race to convince him otherwise. Well-paced by two other runners, Bannister ran a strong first half of the race, and in the final 300 yards released an incredible kick that sent spectators into uproar. As he crossed the finish line in exhaustion, the commentator shouted out the new world-record “3:59.4”. For the first time in history, the four-minute mile was broken.
This past Saturday, March 3rd, Sir Roger Bannister died, at age 88, in England. Though Bannister was most famous for his running career, he professed more proud of his contributions to the medical field as a neurosurgeon. Since 1954, over 500 Americans alone have broken the four-minute mile, and the current world record stands at 3:43.13. In the days of Bannister’s career, breaking the four minute mile seemed impossible. Today, the running world has eyes set on bigger, crazier goals, such as breaking the two-hour marathon. But, had it not been for the grit and determination of daring athletes of our past like Bannister, who knows where sports would be today?