Sir Roger Bannister
speaker
43 appearances
3 recordings
1 series
first heard May 2014
last heard May 2014
Sir Roger Bannister’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
My mind doesn't instantly return to reflect on the details of that four-minute mile, but I like to think it does still make athletes slightly breathless when they attempt it, although many, many have now done it.
Three Swedes, Arne Andersson, Gunther Haegh and Leonard Strand, they brought the record down to 4 minutes and 1.4 seconds.
That was in 1945, and then there was no improvement for nine years after the war, and it seemed incredible that the record was seemingly stuck.
I think the reason was that the Swedes were declared professionals, and that was the end of their careers.
And the rest of the world was catching up with the troubles with rationing and other difficulties of the post-war recovery.
And it wasn't until 1954 that I realised that the four-minute mile was absolutely possible.
As a medical student...
I realised that there could not be an absolute limit.
There was no portcullis that came down.
It was possible to find some errors in training of previous runners or find better conditions on the day and so that the four-minute mile could be broken.
I had bitterly disappointed myself and the press and the public.
by not winning the gold medal in Helsinki.
Had I won that gold medal, I would have retired because it was getting difficult to combine my sport with my life as a medical student.
But had I won that, I would be one of 20 people
holders of a gold medal for the 1500 metres in the 20th century and would be, I suppose, relatively forgotten.
I think it was a psychological barrier.
John Landy, after running four miles each in four minutes and two seconds, reached a position of disappointment, saying, it's like a brick wall.
I shan't attempt it again.
And of course he did.
He came to Europe and then broke my record.
Showing 21–40 of 43 · page 2 of 3
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