Roger Bannister/John Landy "the look" Poster

Print your own. Very easy to do. It probably never was a poster.

I tried to find it once but couldn't had to settle for the poster of Bannister breaking four.

Landy had a deep gash on his foot. It was the only time Bannister was close to him, and Landy smashed the record a few weeks after that.

http://cache3.asset-cache.net/gc/81346815-track-field-british-empire-and-commonwealth-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QT3pD4P3TelCJgzaPeAuMi5VpMaRbWoc931EfPopDFlcVXzMJI8krjqo8TWwHXNowBXsd%2fIpsr9GJ5ZtO%2fQx1hE%3d

Landy was awesome wrote:

Landy had a deep gash on his foot. It was the only time Bannister was close to him, and Landy smashed the record a few weeks after that.

http://cache3.asset-cache.net/gc/81346815-track-field-british-empire-and-commonwealth-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QT3pD4P3TelCJgzaPeAuMi5VpMaRbWoc931EfPopDFlcVXzMJI8krjqo8TWwHXNowBXsd%2fIpsr9GJ5ZtO%2fQx1hE%3d

Landy set the record before that race. It was likely the only time the two ever met unless they crossed paths in the '52 Olympics.

They met in the 1952 Olympics as well. Now, Landy was making solid attempts at the record in the Australian summer of 1954, so Bannister knew that he had to break 4 before Landy would make an attempt in Finland. Bannister accomplished it in a college meet at Oxford with his 3:59.4. 46 days later, Landy smashed it with a 3:57.9, rounded up to 3:58.0. Then came their matchup in the race of the century. Landy did have a gashed up foot, having stepped on a photographer's flashbulb in the dark (he said it did not affect him), while Bannister was sick and still coughing a lot after the race. Landy had seen Bannister close in 53, so he knew he had to keep the pace very fast. He quickly took over the lead. Bannister moved into second by 330 but Landy had a lead that grew to 13 yards at one point, so Bannister abandoned his plan to run even splits and started going after Landy, running a 59 on the third lap to Landy's 60, and the lead was about 5y. Then obviously, on the last straight, Bannister came charging by on the outside when Landy looked left, and Bannister won by .8s in 3:58.8. (Bannister later won Euros in a championship record 1500m that season). It strikes me (and Bannister) that Bannister was the better racer, Landy the better solo runner, and I think that Bannister in that season could have beaten Landy's record, but that Landy himself could have run faster with a pacer. Bannister's limited training and his performances are remarkable. At one time before 1954, when his pr wasn't nearly as fast, he ran 4:14 after 6 weeks of no training.

Straw M Thoroughman wrote:

Landy set the record before that race. It was likely the only time the two ever met unless they crossed paths in the '52 Olympics.

Landy and Bannister did race against each other in the heats of the 1952 Olympic 1500m. Bannister went through to the semis, while Landy did not. Bannister went on to finish 4th. If I recall it correctly, his excuse for not medaling was that the event was originally supposed to have two rounds and he said he would have trained differently if he had known that it would have three rounds, as it did in the end.

That's approximately right, though I think that he thought it would be one round, not two. When he saw that it was two, he knew he was toast, because of his very limited base. And he felt quite spent after the heat. Still, he ran a British record of 3:46 in the final, about a second off the winner. He was very disappointed with the result and trained quite a bit harder the next two years before giving up the sport for medicine.

I should add that both are still alive today and that I met and talked to Bannister at my college convocation 27 years ago--a real gentleman.

Landy was very mild mannered and generous, the opposite of Bannister. In fact, Landy didn't develop until '54 and then ran a slew of times that were approaching the WR, on terrible tracks, and much faster than Bannister, who before that had been faster.

Landy's foot was gashed by a broken bottle he stepped on when training barefoot on a grass field, it was not a flash bulb. I'm not making excuses for him but the fact is that his foot was gashed. Whether it made any difference, I don't know, and Landy would never say that it did. Regardless, the race was the highlight of his life for Bannister, whereas it was just another race for Landy and had no special significance.

Landy always inspired me since first reading about him.

Conversely, Bannister always had an excuse for everything. Would have trained differently had their been three rounds? No, that is BS. He trained the best way that he knew and got 4th. Landy ended up getting Olympic silver in 1956.

Landy was the better runner in all ways, better pacer, better racer, hard worker, and a truly awesome person and gentleman.

Bannister mentioned meeting Landy truly for the first time in Vancouver. Clearly they had little interaction two years before.

Not sure why you would say Landy was the better racer. Bannister outraced him in every way in Vancouver.

Straw M Thoroughman wrote:

Not sure why you would say Landy was the better racer. Bannister outraced him in every way in Vancouver.

Because edging out Landy with a gashed foot, in a 2 person race was the highlight of Bannisters life, which he and the English press made out to be the event of the century.

Landy got silver in the 1956 Olympics.

What did Bannister get?

Whoops, apparently Landy got there first.

Too many rounds again?

I'm not sure why there is such animosity towards Roger. Our family has been friends with The Bannisters for 3 generations, and he's truly one of the greatest people I know. He's inspirational, encouraging, forthcoming, and a true gentleman. Please don't denigrate someone that you've never interacted with.

FYI Landy's medal in 1956 was bronze, not silver.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B8aMTHX810

Landy was awesome wrote:

Straw M Thoroughman wrote:

Not sure why you would say Landy was the better racer. Bannister outraced him in every way in Vancouver.

Because edging out Landy with a gashed foot, in a 2 person race was the highlight of Bannisters life, which he and the English press made out to be the event of the century.

Landy got silver in the 1956 Olympics.

What did Bannister get?

Whoops, apparently Landy got there first.

Too many rounds again?

Bannister retired two years before Landy got BRONZE.

You seem like a real fan so shouldn't you have known that?

By the way Bannister had a bad chest cold in Vancouver.

I strongly suspect just one person on this boards doesn't like him. I have never before seen anything negative written about bannister.The fact is he was a world record holder, a positiv e person always, well educated, and an inspiration to many people. He went on to be an ambassador of the sport.Much the same could be said about landy. It makes no semse why somebody is bashing bannister post after post.

Another Londoner wrote:

I'm not sure why there is such animosity towards Roger. Our family has been friends with The Bannisters for 3 generations, and he's truly one of the greatest people I know. He's inspirational, encouraging, forthcoming, and a true gentleman. Please don't denigrate someone that you've never interacted with.

If you want evidence of Bannister's greatness in 1954 don't look at his sub 4 effort or his victory over Landy. Check out his European 1500 victory that year ; a real race, loaded field and he easily out kicked them.

He retired after this to concentrate on a medical career. He said he could not combine this with the increased training load he knew would be needed for the 1956 Olympics. You can't criticise a man for putting a medical career before running, surely? He became very distinguished in his chosen area of medicine - credit to him.

The poster is called "The Moment". I received a limited signed print for my birthday in 2004. There were 1954 of them, signed by the artist, Landy, and Bannister.

Sorry. Not sure about the print itself, as mine was something else. But the name of the "art piece" is "The Moment". Mine was not a photo, but a drawing/painting.