Added: 3 years ago
From: briansacks
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  • I need to learn how to finish a race like Bannister... he had absolutely no juice left when he crossed the line! That's called getting your moneys worth... I gotta learn how to do that the next race, it must take serious balls to ignore his body and use up the last drop!

  • wow that is really cool to hear their voices and how they sounded

  • can you imagine how fast these guys would go with the same attitude, work ethic and personality combined with the modern tracks, spikes, nutrition, analysis etc.!!! These 2, santee and el gurreouj would have been amazing

  • @MrLad9 I quite agree

    

  • Is this Wes Santee commentating?

  • This was a great race, but I really wish Santee had been able to run this race as well. That would've been an amazing battle.

  • Landy got stitches on his foot right before this race

  • @1salmons and Bannister had a cold - see my other 'uploader's' comments

  • English will allways be faster than ozi's its genetics thats why there is an australia in the first place because we were faster and caught them to send them there.......just kidding :)

  • Looking at Bannister here reminds me of something, how much did he weigh? I weighed - 185lbs @ my 6 minute mile, lol.

    I was training for the military, lifting a lot of weights, I remember how heavy my body felt. I'd have to drop at least 35 lbs to begin thinking about about a 4 minute mile. These runners are superb.

  • @N1k1mon You would also have to have special abilities.

  • I had never ran a fast mile on purpose, I had been training for long distance and with a handicap. The first time I ever timed myself to see how fast I could run the mile it was almost exactly a 6 minute mile, though I could have possibly added 5 seconds or so, that was my all. And they were running it over 2 minutes faster here! Of course they had trained long and hard, amazing.

  • Landy of Australia (the guy in 1st place for most of the race) has a running style that is almost identical to that of ALBERTO SALAZAR of the late 70's/early 80's, in terms of stride length, body lean, and turnover.

    Look at some old footage of Salazar, and see if you don't agree.

  • I remember watching this live on teleivision in Canada as a 10-year-old immigrant who had arrived from England the year before. The race was much anticipated, and since I was English, I dearly wanted Bannister to win and to reclaim his world record from Landy. At least he accomplished the win, although for a time it looked like Landy was running away with it. As usual, Bannister ran himself into exhaustion, but Landy looked like he could go another mile

  • @hpy999 Bear in mind that Bannister was running with a cold, which presumably explains his exhaustion to some degree

  • @briansacks then again you could argue the cut landy got across his foot before the race also impeded him, still i think bannister had more heart in this race to win it

  • I've never run a 1 mile in under 8 minutes. It has been years actually since I've been running, but after watching this video I have decided to break the record! I have now decided with determination to own my responsibility and become the greatest runner ever because I am in my heart the greatest runner/dancer ever born. I know what I have to do now...

  • wes santee is a beast! a great great man...pray for him as he battles cancer

  • Great race, and these guys are true gentlemen as we see in the post race interviews.

  • Athletics is still officially amateur even today, even though they earning their entire living from it, and pay tax!

    These were the days of real amateurs. You needed a wealthy family to support you in your sport, and no smelly working class oiks were allowed in.

    We used to have tennis champions too. ( Bloody good laugh old sport. )

  • @Kidsgrove49 Re: "You needed a wealthy family to support you in your sport, and no smelly working class oiks were allowed in."

    I don´t believe that is true at all. Derek Ibbotson, Gordon Pirie etc, for example....

  • @Kidsgrove49

    I agree. Sport was far better when Gentleman took part rather than those who should have been in the workhouse.

  • Having read the book The Perfect Mile I was wondering what it was like to see this race and watch 2 amazing runners go at it. It is in lot of ways like a classic prize fight boiled down to just under 4 minutes. Thrilling end like the famous fight when Ali comes back to knock out Foreman.

  • I would like to break a six minute mile, never mind a four. Make me appreciate these great athletes all the more.

  • Landy and Bannister - class acts.

  • 1954 i mean

  • to day is the day that Roger Banister broke 4:00 in the mile in 1957, (May 6th)

  • its been a year since I last watched this and it still gives me goose bumps .

  • Possibly the greatest race ever run.....not the fastest, but the greatest.

  • thanks for posting this great moment in running history, Bannister's kick was epic

  • I love the difference in accents!

    Both magnanimous in victory or defeat, good sports.

  • bannister was running with a cold and landy had cut his foot two nights before

  • this ain't the race where the 4 minute barrier was first broken

  • @axeblue No shit, Sherlock?

    Read the description.

  • How did you get the cbc video. I couldn't even find it on CBC's website.

  • Awesome! Incredible! No words to said...

  • I'm reading a book about Roger Bannister, Wes Santee, and John Landy they're all such amazing athletes!

  • yeah that book is awesome!

  • I'm reading that book too

  • OMG, totally awesome! Isn't it wonderful that we have this to see and that someone posted it and that YouTube exists! Thanks to all. What great athletes.

  • What's wrong with Craig Mottram? He's very fast, isn't he? Even nearly beat Haile Geb in the 5K?

  • I agree totally that culture just is, but not something we are necessarily forced to accept. But how can we change culture to promote our sport? It's not easy. Because in the process of fighting the culture to produce change, we won't have the necessary social support to excel in our sport.

  • I totally agree. John didn't mention the stitches he'd had in his feet after stepping on a flashbulb, and Bannister didn't mention the heavy cold he had had - still evident from his coughing and spluttering in the interview.

    John's magnificent gesture of stopping to help Ron Clarke in the 1956 Olympic Trials emphasised further what a wonderful gentleman he was, and still is

  • Perfect race by Bannister - if only both Coe and Ovett had his racing inelligence to go with their talent. Landy's failure to widen the gap after 2 laps is fatal to his chances. From 600 out there is just one winner. Love the way Bannister collapses over the line, just as he did when he ran sub 4.

  • BEAST!

    Any one who watches this should watch the movie "The Four Minute Mile" and read the book "The Perfect Mile" by Neal Bascomb

    truely an amazing historic event! GO BANNISTER!

  • John Landy, complete class act. Listen to his speech at the end. Graciously accepts defeat. A lesson in sportsmanship.

  • I agree! That's what inspired me.

  • WOW! That was exciting. I think there is a movie based on this exciting event.

  • Roger Bannister, is my number one idol, no matter what, haha my life goal is to at least break 4 mins for my mile right now is at a sub five, (like 4:58ish) so my goal is to at leatst be as good as him

  • treat your heart like a muscle.

  • third lap has gotta have been hard

    wow, great stuff

  • GOD I LOVE THIS FILM !

  • Thank you!

    If you look in 'More info' on the side of the video, you will see a link where I have posted the video in possibly better quality

  • thanks for the link .I have watched this vid over and over and the moment the music changes and banister starts to kick hard just covers me in goose bumps just fantastic .

  • It has the same effect on me. In my opinion it is the greatest mile race ever. What is just as remarkable to me is how distinguished and admirable both Bannister and Landy were as people throughout their lives, quite apart from their running exploits.

  • and then the kenyans own them...

  • don't be bitter

  • That's because the Brits didn't have the incentive to train as hard as the Kenyans. If they did, they might still be at the top.

  • its not incentive, its culture. kenyan boys start from age 6 and make it a life goal.

  • I know what you mean...I live in a culture where running 10 km once a week is considered plenty. This is why we have not been able to produce any world class runners.

  • This is the first time I've seen this and I have tears of pride to be English watching it .true English grit

  • dude its like sprinting every dam lap. Very hard to do that i will tell you

  • hell yeah! there time for a 400 can get first place in my high-school track

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  • An explanation for Bannister's exhaustion: He had been suffering the previous week with a bad cold, evident in his coughing during the interview.

    As for Landy, look up this quote on google:

    "Landy's vulnerability to pressure and fuss probably explains why he couldn't sleep the night before the race. Walking the darkened streets at 3AM, barefoot, he gashed his foot on a photographer's discarded flash bulb. He needed four stitches. He swore the doctor to secrecy."

    Both men had modesty and grace.

  • he's a great athlete accomplishing a great feat...but I do not agree with him "collapsing". He just happened to be able to run 1600 meters and set a world record before losing his ability to stand? Doubtful. It may be dramatic and exciting to many, but I wish he would have stood strong and hid the pain/weakness he was feeling.

  • He pushed himself to his absolute limit. Those were different times. As a medical doctor he had spent the morning working in hospital the day he broke the four minute mile three months previously. He was a man who trained around three quarters of an hour a day. He was not today's full-time professional athlete who is so well trained that he takes it all in his stride.

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  • Yes I agree with you there. I don't know what bannister's training routine was but he was a part time athlete. If Coe had pushed himself to a comparable limit he would have run a 3.42 mile.

  • To sum up, he won what many people consider to be the greatest mile race of all time.

    I guess there's no pleasing some people.

  • It was an amazing race...but seeing a grown man who just accomplished this feat, collapse like a young girl ruined it for me....I assume you were never a runner....I don't care how hard you run, you don't collapse after the race. This drama queen should go play soccer and draw some red cards if that's what he's going for...I'm sorry, I don't know why but this act really bothers me...

  • "I assume you were never a runner"

    One of my other videos, you will see, shows me running my first marathon, at age 38, in under 3 hours. I have been a runner for more than forty years. I also write on athletics for a national newspaper, and have Bannister's book "First Four Minutes" in front of me. So I don't think my credentials are as shaky as you suggest.

    Bear in mind also, when you compare Bannister to your high-school chum, that cinder tracks of those days were far slower than today's.

  • well I'm glad to hear that you have had success as a runner....I'm going to back down from this and just try and accept the fact that it was necessary for him to collapse. Good luck with your future runs

  • Best of luck to you too

    Regards

    Brian

  • Update: Have a look at video 9598_roger_bannister . The end of it shows that Bannister didn't really collapse, in fact he ran down the track to embrace Landy. Commentator: "Breaking free from well-wishers he struggles down the track towards his rival, and the two masters of the mile embrace".

  • i would like to see u run a sub 4 min mile and let's see if u don't collapse

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  • lol....I don't have the VO2 Max/genetic make up to run a sub 4...but if I did, I wouldn't collapse. The man who posted this video has explained bannisters situation more in depth to me and I'm trying to have an open mind about it...."I would like to see u run a sub 4 min mile and let's see if u don't collapse"....lol, I'll try and remind the thousands of runners who have broken 4 that they should have collapsed after doing so.

  • IMO you don't get what this accomplishment meant  in 1954. Egos weren't the same size then as they are now. And you don't get that a world class MALE athlete can collapse in the arms of a friend / mentor / supporter. Take off your blinders amigo.

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  • thanks for putting this up

  • I just read The Perfect Mile... and this is definitely is the perfect mile.

  • i like the music. wats this song called?

  • no idea, sorry

  • Read about it but never seen it...brilliant!! Thanks!!

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