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Roger Gilbert Bannister (born March 23, 1929) is a former British athlete best known as the first man to run the
mile in less than four minutes, and
a distinguished neurologist. He was born in Harrow, Middlesex, England.
History
Bannister was educated at the City of Bath boys' grammar school, University College school, London, Exeter and Merton colleges, Oxford, and at St. Mary's Hospital
medical school, London.
The 4-minute-mile
This historic event took place on May 6, 1954 at
Iffley Road track in Oxford and watched by about 3,000 spectators during a meet between British AAA and Oxford University. With winds up to 25 miles per hour, the event was
almost cancelled. However, the persistent Bannister prevailed and was rewarded with the honour of running the "miracle mile". His
time was 3 min 59.4 secs. The race was paced by Chris Brasher and
Chris Chataway, both of whom went on to establish their own stellar
track performances.
On June 21, his record is broken by John Landy of Australia, with a time of 3 min 58 secs.
On August 7, at the British Empire games in Vancouver, B.C., Bannister
meets Landy for the first time: Bannister wins in 3 min 58.8 secs., 3/5 sec. under his own record, but 4/5 sec. over Landy's.
His record-setting mile run was called the "Miracle Mile" because some doubted a four-minute-mile was possible. Bannister wore
the number 41 on his jersey that day.
He was the first recipient of Sports Illustrated
magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award.
A medical student at the time, Bannister retired from athletics in 1954 to pursue a career in neurology. He was knighted for his services to neurology in 1975.
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