Roger Bannister sub-4 spikes up for auction - HOW THE HELL DID HE GO SUB 4 IN THESE!?!?

J.R. wrote:

Bannister's shoes weighed only 5 ounces, and he sharpened the spikes before races.

That's hard to believe. My spikes from the same era that were 9 1/2 in size weigh 218.7 grams or 7.7 ounces and the lightest available at the time. They are as heavy as hell and even I don't understand how anyone could run under 4 minutes in them.

When I was Worlds Masters Champ in 1983 [400mH, 800m] with the lightest spikes I could buy they were 149.9 grams or 5.3 ounces

A bit after Bannister, adidas Melbournes weighed 11 oz per pair, and the 9.9s weighed under 10 oz per pair.

Flagging up concerns! Legendary Bannister remembers 1948 opening ceremony gaffe

If you look closely at pictures from the opening ceremony of the 1948 Olympics, the last Games to be held in Britain, you might notice the British flag is smaller than the others. It is also flying from a brass-tipped pole, rather than the standard wooden-tipped one.

But without the quick thinking of Roger Bannister, the first man to break the four-minute-mile, the British team might not have had anything to march behind in the parade of athletes at all.

Despite a truck-full of flags, it quickly emerged that the Union flag was missing.

'Panic,' explains Bannister, now an 83-year-old retired neurologist. 'The commandant said to me 'Roger, go and find that flag which is at the back of my car in the car park'. So we tore back in a jeep, hooting to get the various spectators out of the way.

'We found the car, but had no key. So I took a brick and smashed the window. A policeman who was in charge saw, and an army sergeant had to restrain him and say what we were doing.'

Bannister, 19 at the time, got the makeshift flag to the team just as the procession into the stadium was beginning.

He laughs as he recalls the story.

'So there we are: my small contribution to the 1948 Olympics.'

reader of the forums wrote:

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Show me his WR when he was

If Bannister was American the view here would be different

What are you going on about?

You wrote that Steve finished 4th in the Olympic Games at his peak.

That was factually incorrect.

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Show me his WR when he was at his peak

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ukathleticscoach wrote:

reader of the forums wrote:

What are you going on about?

You wrote that Steve finished 4th in the Olympic Games at his peak.

That was factually incorrect.

==============================

Show me his WR when he was at his peak

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The statement

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Interesting how you all still wet your pants over some American who finished 4th in the olympics at his peak and never came close to any world record

is a factually incorrect statement.

Steve was not at his peak in 1972, when he finished 4th. You were wrong.