Steve Ovett. I can still picture watching him on live TV at his peak. He was superb. He looked as if he was enjoying it and was there to win. His autobiography "Ovett" gives a good flavour of the man.
Steve Ovett. I can still picture watching him on live TV at his peak. He was superb. He looked as if he was enjoying it and was there to win. His autobiography "Ovett" gives a good flavour of the man.
Bannister could have given all these other Johnny-come-latelys a good rogering.
whirledpeas wrote:
jim spivey. i like the way raced: prepared; ready to throw-down.
+1 for Spivey!
Tony Waldrup (sp)
Reggie McAfee
Me
Roger - king of the road is a classic
1) Glenn Cunningham- truly the first sub 4 minute miler
2) Herb Elliott- Bad ass before anybody knew what bad ass was. Love the story he tells about staying up all night on a plane smoking and drinking only to find out promoters had one more race between he and Lincoln set for the next day in Brisbane. After that defeat by Herb, Merv, who was on the plane and knew about the race was convinced he could never beat him.
3) Johnny Walker- Hey, he was Johnny F***ing Walker
Not to mention barely training for months-going to a bar instead and thinking up reasons to not trzin-then running the fastest 1/2 mile ever in Europe. What a talent.
Who cares about milers?
Quenton Cassidy
Waylon wrote:
Quenton Cassidy
Ah yes, the OP didn't specifically limit this to non-fictional milers.
My choices (non-fiction)
Men
Roger Bannister: how could any top miler list not include him
Marcus O'Sullivan for reasons given above... and he continues to give back to the sport as a coach (and because I have a special place in my heart for Irish runners)
Eamonn Coughlin: set the standard for indoor mile and masters milers (also the Irish runner thing)
El G
Morceli
Bernard Lagat
Women
Hassiba Boulmerka: had to deal with Islamic fundamentalist death threats because of all the restrictions on women athletes, and yet won Olympic gold; has to be one tough lady!
US women
Mary Slaney: long, productive career
Shannon Rowbury
Erin Donohue (local favorite)
Jordan Hasay because she looks exceptionally promising: already in Olympic Trials, won FL, all while still in h.s.
I loved Coe. I especially liked that he was a 800/1500 guy too. It seems now almost all of our 800 runners are more sprint types (400 guys that moved up).
I really enjoyed watching Morceli. He never looked like he was straining.
+1 for O'Sullivan. Good guy.
gunder hagg was awesome...he and arne andersson took the mile clear down to 4:01 and i think gunder was better and would have been the first sub 4 if he hadnt been banned from competing. bannister is cool yea but a pretender imo
Ovett- just plain cool
Walker- just plain tough
Dixon (when he ran the mile)- just plain loved to train like an animal and drink lots of beer.
Great picture of Walker!
So many great ones but Walker & El G demanded your attention. Loved their Power! At least six from the UK to be considered too!
ty
gunder hagg wrote:
gunder hagg was awesome...he and arne andersson took the mile clear down to 4:01 and i think gunder was better and would have been the first sub 4 if he hadnt been banned from competing. bannister is cool yea but a pretender imo
Hagg and Andersson were beasts and underrated and I think Bannister was overrated-European title, World record but no Olympic medals, no longevity and not really dominant. He ran the first sub 4 minute mile but I don't think that should automatically give him a spot in the top ten. On the other hand though you can't exactly call bannister a pretender though-3:59.4, the time speaks for itself.
I do like John Landy's overall attitude a lot more however, he seemed like a really honorable person, there is no other word for it. Like when someone fell in front of him and he accidentally spiked them he went back to see if they were ok. The guy got up said he was fine and Landy started racing again even though he was 40 or 50 yards down on a bunch of 4:03-4:08 guys and eventually won in 4:04.
People talk about a guy falling or being involved in a scuffle and still making up ground, and how it shows character and determination: but to go back and help a competitor during a race? I find that incredible that that was his first instinct. When El Guerrouj fell in Atlanta, Morceli and everyone else started sprinting. Guess that's just how proffesionalism has changed the sport, win at all costs.
He also badly sliced his foot open before his race against Bannister and forced the press to keep quiet about it because he didn't want it to seem like he was giving any excuses.
Sydney Wooderson should get a mention. Mile and half mile World Record holder before WWII, lost his potentially best years of running due to the war. Realistically could have been the first sub 4 but may not have had the single minded devotion to do it. This was Bannister's great attribute, apart from his sub 4 his athletic career was not that stellar. Wooderson was competitive after the war with Anderson in a couple of staged races and won the European 5000 when presumably past his prime.Ed Whitlock
gunder hagg wrote:
gunder hagg was awesome...he and arne andersson took the mile clear down to 4:01 and i think gunder was better and would have been the first sub 4 if he hadnt been banned from competing. bannister is cool yea but a pretender imo
Agree completely with fUrCeOsNhN. Landy >>>> Bannister. If Landy had been afforded the kind of tracks that Bannister got to compete on in England, and teammates who were willing to time trial him through more than two thirds of the race, Landy would have beaten Bannister to the 4 minute mile. I've always held the impression that Bannister was really full of himself and ran for the media attention it brought him, whereas Landy loved the inner struggle of running and ran for himself.
Webb is the man!
Alan Webb
That's right, I said it.