Bannister Landy Miracle Mile 1954

On 6th May 1954, Roger Bannister ran the first sub-4-minute mile at Iffley Road, Oxford. He held his world record for just six weeks before his great rival, John Landy of Australia, broke it by more than a second with a time of 3:58.0. The stage was now set for a dramatic showdown between the two runners in the final of the One Mile at the Empire Games in Vancouver on 7th August 1954.

This race proved to be probably the most exciting mile race ever run and is still known as the "Miracle Mile". A statue stands in Vancouver to commemorate its moment of highest drama, when John Landy looked back over his left shoulder just as Roger Bannister passed him on his right. Of that instant John Landy said, "When Lots wife looked back she was turned into a pillar of salt. When I looked back I was turned into a pillar of bronze!".

If you wish to see the pillar of bronze, see http://www.danielsacks.org.uk/html/daniel_and_roger_bannister.html

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Roger
• Bannister
• John
• Landy
• Miracle
• Mile
• Empire
• Games
• Vancouver
• 1954

[MrLad9]

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

[briansacks]

@MrLad9 I quite agree



[hpy999]

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

[briansacks]

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

[Kidsgrove49]

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. )

[briansacks]

@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....

[quadbravo]

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

[briansacks]

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

[AnimationGenius]

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!

[linglingjr]

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

[cicirunner]

@N1k1mon You would also have to have special abilities.

[SymphonyStainedRed]

Is this Wes Santee commentating?

[SymphonyStainedRed]

@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

[larrymcg421]

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.

[19harrier56]

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