CNNSI.com 2001 Sportsman of the Year 2001 Sportsman of the Year
Pete Rose Lee Trevino Sugar Ray Leonard Cal Ripken Wayne Gretzky Bonnie Blair Tiger Woods Roger Bannister Jack Nicklaus Michael Jordan Chris Evert Sandy Koufax Muhammad Ali Joe Montana


 



Photograph by Mark Kauffman

"There is no fuss and fanfare about Bannister. When he was asked to explain that first four-minute mile-and the art of record breaking-he answered with original directness: 'It's the ability to take more out of yourself than you've got.'"

Text by Gerald Holland
Issue Date: January 3, 1955


On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile in recorded history. The 25-year-old native of Harrow on the Hill, England, completed the distance in 3:59.4 at Oxford. At the end of the year, Bannister retired from running to pursue his medical studies full-time. He later became a neurologist.



 


 
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