On November 18, 2005 Forbes magazine proclaimed Roger Bannister’s Four-Minute Mile the greatest athletic achievment of the preceding 150 years.  Today, March 23, 2010, Sir Roger Bannister turns 81.

Recalling the momentous event, Bannister himself has stated, “…it was more of a psychological barrier than a physical barrier.”  This point is borne out by the fact that while the world record of 4 minutes 1.4 seconds stood for nine years before Roger’s breaking of it; once broken, it took only six weeks before Australia’s John Landy topped Bannister’s newly acclaimed mark.

Chariots Of Fire – excerpt.loop.30

According to Forbes magazine ( http://www.forbes.com/2005/11/03/cx_lr_athleticslide.html?boxes=custom&thisSpeed=25000 ), in 1954 it seemed unlikely–maybe even impossible–that anyone could run a mile in less than four minutes.  Sweden’s Gunder Haess had come closest at four minutes and 1.4 seconds nine years previously, but no one could break the four-minute barrier until Britain’s Roger Bannister did it at Oxford’s Iffley Road track on May 6, 1954.  On that day, a 25-year-old medical student wowed some 3,000 spectators when he crossed the finish line in three minutes and 59.4 seconds.  Once the psychological barrier had been broken, mile times kept falling, to this day.

Good work, chap!  Cheers!

MyRichLife staff