George and most other runners of his era trained a lot more than what they'd like to admit. In 1886, heavy training was considered to be unsporting.
Bannister, on the other hand, was busy with medical school and could only train for a small amount of time. His posted training schedule is likely to reflect what he actually did.
Nope, it's actually the exact same deal with Bannister. Training hard was seen as unsportsman-like and frowned upon by society. Bannister and his friends, Chataway & Brasher, likely downplayed their training to fit in more with the 'gentleman' model of athletics, an age when men was supposed to be well rounded. In fact I recall Brasher calling Bannister out for some of the details in his book......something like that.
Sports were strictly amateur and a gentleman was supposed to give the impression that he did not work for his athletic prowess.
He ran sub 4 while doing less than 30 mpw during base phase and just 15 mpw during the competition phase. That in itself puts him ahead of nearly every other sub 4 miler as far as talent goes.
Now add in the fact that he ran that sub 4 on a cinder track on a windy day without modern spikes, let alone superspikes. Then add in the psychological component of breaking a barrier that many assumed to be impossible to break.
He'd definitely be under 3:43 if he tripled his mileage, had modern equipment, and ran in excellent weather conditions. Maybe even under 3:40.
The weather conditions were horrible during the day of the race, and it was noticeably windy during his sub 4 run
No it was not noticeably windy during the race. On the contrary.
At 5:15, Bannister, Brasher and Chataway were warming up, making small talk. Brasher and Chataway knew it was not their decision, but all three realized that although the wind was blowing strongly at times, there were periods of quiet.
A few minutes before the six starters were called to the mark, Bannister looked up at the flag atop a nearby church. Earlier, it had been flapping furiously. Now, as Bannister looked up, the flag was limp. Bannister signaled to his friends. “It’s amazing that one can be indecisive up to the point of decision,” Bannister said. “When I noticed that the wind had settled the flag, I talked to myself and realized that I must do it.”
The wind dropped at the start and almost certainly picked up during laps 2, 3, and 4. If you've ever been in a windy location, you'll know that "periods of quiet" rarely last longer than a minute.
Roger Bannister ran 3:58.8 which means you think he had a shot at breaking 3:40? Give me a break. Your logic is very poor. What are you smoking?
He had run a 2:52.9 3/4 mile trial prior to the Olympics. I feel like he would have had a strong chance at sub 3:40, had he been a professional runner without outside work/school to deal with.
Place R B in a discussion with the other Olympic 4th place men.
Silly post.
RB - not my fave by the way - lived in a time when it was 4 years between best meets. 2 years if you add in the comm games.
People couldn't travel to race, had to make a living, and in his case, put himself though medical school.
Many talented athletes gave away the sport as soon as they had to feed a family. Him finishing 4th in an Olympics isn't an indicator of lack of talent.
He didn't race in 1951, raced the Olympics in 52 and was retired in 54. 51 - 54 he was in medical school.
Your snark is misplaced. Its why I snarked my name to personalize you.
I remember watching a British TV documentary in the 80's, and they had Bannister and Coe walking around a track discussing the former's career, and Bannister was stating rather assertively that he would have been as fast as Coe in the same era.
Sub 3:40 mile for sure in the 90's with El G full throttle EPO.
Roger Bannister ran 3:58.8 which means you think he had a shot at breaking 3:40? Give me a break. Your logic is very poor. What are you smoking?
He had run a 2:52.9 3/4 mile trial prior to the Olympics. I feel like he would have had a strong chance at sub 3:40, had he been a professional runner without outside work/school to deal with.
Bannister did the impossible. Lots of guys do it now, but people literally thought it was impossible back then.
If Bannister did the impossible in his carefully orchestrated time trial, Landy went beyond the impossible by smashing Bannister's time a few weeks later in an actual race.
Contrary to the oft-repeated assertion, nobody who knew anything about middle-distance believed that a sub-four was impossible in 1954, when Bannister ran the first sub-four paced time trial and Landy ran the first sub-four unpaced race.
Gunder Hägg ran 4,01 in 1945 so absolutely nobody thought it was impossible in the early 1950s.
Gunder Hägg ran 4,01 in 1945 so absolutely nobody thought it was impossible in the early 1950s.
It was a psychological barrier, and the longer it wasn't broken, the more people thought it might be an unsurmountable psychological barrier.
The WR had gone from 4:06 to 4:01 in the 9 years between 1936 and 1945, despite for much of that time Swedes being the only country in the world able to race, and guys like Rudolf Harbig who might potentially have broken being riddled with bullet holes.
People here often say that a 3:24 1500m or a sub 3:40 is physically impossible, even with doping, despite El G and others getting close to that 20 years ago. For example, Casual Observer often makes the argument that Coe and Cram must have been blood doping, because if they hadn't been blood doping, then they might have ran 3:24 doping, which is 'physically impossible'.
Leave your anti-African crap out of this, Coevett.
And why wouldn't Bannister run some extra miles? Landy often ran after midnight because of his studies.
You are crazy. He lives inside all of your heads, doesn't he?
Yah, Bannister was cr** because he was white.
He? Speaking in the third person, Coevett? And of course your racist mind had to make some stupid racist lie up. I was a fan of Bannister before you learned to walk, kid. Try to grow up, if you can.
No it was not noticeably windy during the race. On the contrary.
At 5:15, Bannister, Brasher and Chataway were warming up, making small talk. Brasher and Chataway knew it was not their decision, but all three realized that although the wind was blowing strongly at times, there were periods of quiet.
A few minutes before the six starters were called to the mark, Bannister looked up at the flag atop a nearby church. Earlier, it had been flapping furiously. Now, as Bannister looked up, the flag was limp. Bannister signaled to his friends. “It’s amazing that one can be indecisive up to the point of decision,” Bannister said. “When I noticed that the wind had settled the flag, I talked to myself and realized that I must do it.”
The wind dropped at the start and almost certainly picked up during laps 2, 3, and 4. If you've ever been in a windy location, you'll know that "periods of quiet" rarely last longer than a minute.
It could have been the phenom known as the eye of the storm, which could give them anything from a couple of minutes to about an hour of favorable weather. But that's speculation, of course. Bannister showed in Vancouver that he could have run at least 3:55-3:56 in a paced race, with the type of training he was doing.
Sub 3:40 mile for sure in the 90's with El G full throttle EPO.
I really want to see a proof against El G.
I spend a lot of time searching the net and I find nothing, even from his very close friends.
The only thing I found was somewhat a complain about his behavior with other runners. You know I revise my idea about him and I had a wrong idea. He is the most serious of them all.
You can see how he commented the final 1500m of Olympic Games 2008, he put a wall between him and other Moroccan runners. Don't mix him with others.
Bannister had a low mileage/high intensity program going into the Olympics, expecting only a heat and a final. They then inserted another round, for which he wasn't prepared.
Gunder Hägg ran 4,01 in 1945 so absolutely nobody thought it was impossible in the early 1950s.
It was a psychological barrier, and the longer it wasn't broken, the more people thought it might be an unsurmountable psychological barrier.
The WR had gone from 4:06 to 4:01 in the 9 years between 1936 and 1945, despite for much of that time Swedes being the only country in the world able to race, and guys like Rudolf Harbig who might potentially have broken being riddled with bullet holes.
People here often say that a 3:24 1500m or a sub 3:40 is physically impossible, even with doping, despite El G and others getting close to that 20 years ago. For example, Casual Observer often makes the argument that Coe and Cram must have been blood doping, because if they hadn't been blood doping, then they might have ran 3:24 doping, which is 'physically impossible'.
The story goes that Bannister crushed the 4 minute mile mark, and allowed runners to dream of the impossible. No longer held back by this psychological barrier, swarms of runners went under the bar…
What? No. I'm sure lots of modern milers could run 3:59 off of 30 mpw in base. Donovan Brazier ran 3:35 off of less mileage, Elliott Giles ran 3:33 at around the same.
