Mindweak reckons that Bannister invented EPO, so it's possible that a sub 4 minute mile has never been run clean....according to him.
Don't know if he has read the following article - he might have to start claiming that the dastardly Brits invented EPO in the 18th century.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2004/may/02/athletics.comment1
Libertarian Centrist wrote:
I'm no Trump supporter, but Donald Trump could have definitely broken 4 before Bannister if he had trained for it.
No, Trump's track coach said this: "Donald Trump was the worst goddamn miler I ever had.”
SDSU Aztec wrote:
Libertarian Centrist wrote:
I'm no Trump supporter, but Donald Trump could have definitely broken 4 before Bannister if he had trained for it.
No, Trump's track coach said this: "Donald Trump was the worst goddamn miler I ever had.”
Dear Donald's track coach-
Please excuse Donald from any vigorous activity today. His future bone spurs are aggravating him today.
Thank-you,
Donald's Mom
The Swedes came close during WWII, but the most credible account is probably from long before by British runners for wagers in the 18th century.
Sounds a bit like all the stories about weightlifter Paul Anderson, who is said to have lifted incredible weights, but never did something remotely similar in real competitions.
As an astronaut on the International Space Station, I circled the earth at a speed of about 17,150 mph. More or less.
On a treadmill up there, I ran a mile in 0.0034985422740525 minutes. But I might be off by a a few millionths.
If only there had been an orbiting spacecraft back in Glenn Cunningham's time...if only...but Werner von Braun was working for Adolph back then, not NASA.
If the Olympic 1500m were held on an orbiting ISS, the winning time would be just a wee bit faster than Matthew Centrowitz's gold medal-winning Rio performance.
Christopher Columbus discovered the mile. Leif Erikson discovered the 1500m.
the 4 minute mile thing is just stupid.
normally talented guys go sub 4 in their second year of proper training.
bannister should have been looking at 350 mile with his talent.
old records are garbage, and an indication of bad training and bad ideas.
anyone with a 150 800m and aerobic ability can break 4 min in training, and probably did.
or should have.
350 is something to write home about.
340 is a real barrier, where you need to be super human and do super human training.
there's the proper "barrier"
or 42 for a 400m
or 139 for the 800m
end of story.
I like your story!
I believe your coach remembers correctly. The athlete was Franklin Mezza. An unassuming chubby kid enrolled at med school at the time. Some claim he stopped after 3 laps but somehow convinced everyone that it was his 4th. No video exists of the effort, so it stands.
Wes Santee ran one in Kansas a few weeks before Bannister did it.
Partridge wrote:
Cunningham's mile world record was 4:06.7 and he ran a 3:48 1500, which is about equivalent. He had a lot of performances around 4:08-4:09 and 3:50-3:52. Quite unlikely he should have run 7 seconds faster than his best in a training session. His 800 in 1:49 was fast enough for a sub4, though.
Maybe but he also ran 4:04.4 on an oversize indoor track.
If it's not on Strava it didn't happen
bob here wrote:
SDSU Aztec wrote:
No, Trump's track coach said this: "Donald Trump was the worst goddamn miler I ever had.”
Dear Donald's track coach-
Please excuse Donald from any vigorous activity today. His future bone spurs are aggravating him today.
Thank-you,
Donald's Mom
Trump got kicked off the team for 'batin during warmups
Seriously?
Today's tech is soooo different. Better shoes, better training, better track surfaces, more accurate timing, etc.
This is Andre Degrasse (a 9.92 PB in the 100m) running the 100m in the same conditions as Jesse ran a 10.3 for gold in the 1936 Berlin Olympics:
well,, wrote:
Sounds a bit like all the stories about weightlifter Paul Anderson, who is said to have lifted incredible weights, but never did something remotely similar in real competitions.
Poor comparison. That's because those "incredible weights" (such as a reputed 6,270 pounds in a back lift) were lifted by Anderson in non-recognized lifts (ones that are not part of either powerlifting or Olympic lifting) in strongman exhibitions after he retired from competition. As an Olympic lifter he was the gold medalist in Melbourne 1956, world champion the year before, a two-time national champion, and he was a multiple world record holder in both powerlifting and Olympic lifting.
The facts - Wes Santee did not break 4:00, let alone before Bannister.
He did seriously SCARE 4:00 before Bannister broke it.
Read Bannister's book, the Four Minute Mile, and also published later as First Four Minutes, it's a decent read, and the facts are in there
Used to race at the Dartmouth indoor track in the 70s. The building had a good feel, ran many duals and invitationals there. Each January back then, the New England scene would converge there for the Dartouth Invitational. Actually lined up one year for a relay against a Villanova squad including Eamon Coughlan and Don Paige. Geez I guess they beat our UMass squad somehow.
I think there was a plaque in the building about Cunningham's run of 4:04. It was not counted as a WR as it was run indoors.
HRE wrote:
That story has been around for a long time going back to Cunningham who evidently believed it. The full version is that his coach timed him for a mile using a slow watch and the time was under 4:00. The coach decided not to tell Cunningham that the watch was slow so that Cunningham would believe he was capable of running that fast in competition. When finally told reportedly Cunningham would not believe the watch was slow.
The other pre-Bannister claim was from Ken Wood, a British runner from the north of England who said he did it in training a few weeks before Bannister did. Wood's claim might be more valid than Cunningham's. He was an international class runner whose career was longer than Bannister's. But it was just a claim. It wasn't verifiable and that's why records and the credit that goes with them have to be set in competition.
I had a great uncle named William Sartor who always told me that he broke 4 minutes in the mile while running on an Army facility. His claim was that he did this before Roger Bannister broke 4 minutes for the first time. He didn't just tell me this because I was also a miler, but he told numerous people this his entire life. I had no reason to not believe him. He was always known as a good athlete in his day and a well respected citizen and educator. Thank you.
But part of being a great athlete is performing on a particular day, not just any day.
A person who runs 3:59 in an event holds more weight than someone who runs 3:59 in a practice session.
The real first wrote:
I am sure East Africans for thousands of years had broken 4 many times while chasing antelope
If you were chasing your food at that pace, you would have starved to death, after your wife clobbered you with a big stone for coming home panting and empty handed everyday, unlike your neighbour, who was banging her.