RIP: Roger Bannister

Dang - that is a long way out to start a kick! - bravo

Sir Dr Roger Bannister will always be remembered for breaking the four minute mile. But it is important to celebrate and acknowledge what he did for the next 50 years. He was a physician, specifically a neurologist, and was an outstanding doctor. He specialized in a difficult area of neurology, the autonomic nervous system. In addition to the inspiration he gave to others from his brief career as an athlete, I suspect he was at least equally satisfied with his work in medicine.

I always thought Sir Roger got it right. His accomplished something historic in sports, but then stopped competing and moved on to another type of hard, and perhaps more important work.

Spidey

RIP the Legend. Keep the track in heaven warmed up for us.

Sir Bannister's work ethic in both his running and medical career will always be an inspiration to me. May he rest in peace and continue to inspire athletes for generations to come.

I was a high school junior running the mile (no 2 mile then in New York) when Bannister broke 4:00. And later that summer I watched on TV as he outkicked John Landy of Australia to win the British Empire Games mile 3:58-3:59.6. Earlier that summer Landy had run 3:58.0 in Finland to break Bannister’s record. At the time of the Empire Games no one else had broken 4:00.

Landy’s front running style contrasted drastically with Bannister’s excellent kick. But both were truly admirable people in everything they did. As others have noted, it is rare - but wonderful - when our athletic heroes are excellent role models in their daily lives.

Correction: Bannister 3:58.8 - Landy 3:59.6.

usnspecialist wrote:

somewhat ironic that today is the world mens 1500 final, i would be stunned if there wasnt some sort of moment of silence before the race (or at the start of the session).

I don’t think you know what “ironic” means.

RIP Sir Roger

Bannister had all the traits of a typical Letsrunner.

Ran a sub 4 minute mile (the first to do so actually)

Graduated from one of the top 6 Universities in the world (perhaps ranked even higher at the time)

Was a neurologist

6 foot 2 inches

Married to a rich Swedish girl

Was knighted

Wait a second, contrary to pretty much everybody on LetsRun, he actually did all that... pretty incredible. Was there anything he couldn't do?

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His wife, Moyra Bannister, is the daughter of a Swedish economist who was the managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

The world lost a sporting hero today.

It is because of the tiny whiff of a chance of running a sub-4 mile down the road that I continue to train so hard. I suspect there are many others like me, so deeply touched by what Bannister achieved that they keep running after their dreams, too.

Rest In Peace, Roger.

feel inadequate wrote:

Why don't more people try to train like he did given all the time constraints we have today?

Because time is not medical school tight for most and people generally want to do their absolute best.

ck3237 wrote:

You set a standard. Going to medical school and the training you did must have been tough.

Jack Lovelock did the exact same thing.

Roger Bannister breaking the four minute mile was probably the last great moment of amateur athletics.

Training while in medical school epitomized the ideals of a gentleman athlete.

Amateur rules continued after this but became perverted by under the table payments and really being a system to keep money in the hands of organizers and away from the athletes who deserved it.

Spider wrote:

Sir Dr Roger Bannister will always be remembered for breaking the four minute mile. But it is important to celebrate and acknowledge what he did for the next 50 years. He was a physician, specifically a neurologist, and was an outstanding doctor. He specialized in a difficult area of neurology, the autonomic nervous system. In addition to the inspiration he gave to others from his brief career as an athlete, I suspect he was at least equally satisfied with his work in medicine.

I always thought Sir Roger got it right. His accomplished something historic in sports, but then stopped competing and moved on to another type of hard, and perhaps more important work.

Spidey

He made this sport !

Well said Spider !

RIP Doc

atc wrote:

We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves...The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable.

RIP great man.

I have to admit, when I saw this quote I thought you made it up—not thinking it’s the quote from Bannister ?

“I believe as runners, we can relate and come together as one to mourn the loss of a great phenomenon “- A

I was a Freshman in High School when someone gave me a copy of the BBC produced "Supermilers" documentary of all the world record holders from Bannister to Coe. It inspired me greatly from being a 5:10 miler to eventually breaking 4:00 in college 51 years after his achievement. Chasing records or "the previously impossible" for each of us is the most exhilarating facet of running. Bannister's mentality and achievements changed my life and planted a seed of dreaming, then doing that was a part of me on and off the track. Long live the mile-king.

The supermilers series is brilliant.

Brilliant man.

Brilliant life.

Your race has moved me to tears in the past. Now you run where none of us have yet set foot. Thank you Sir Roger Bannister

He did more as a physician than he did as a runner. (He discovered Anabolic Steroids among other things)