The First Four Minutes

In two strides I was past him, with 70 yards to go, but I could not accelerate further. Though I was slowing all the time I just managed to reach the tape, winning by five yards in 3 minutes 58.8 seconds. Once again the four-minute mile had been broken, this time by both of us in the same race.

This last lap was one of the most intense and exciting of my life. John Landy had shown me what a race could really be at its greatest. He is the sort of runner I could never become, and for this I admire him. Before Vancouver he achieved a record of solo mile races that I could never have equaled. At Vancouver he had the courage to lead at the same speed in a closely competitive race. His boldness forced me to abandon my time schedule and lose myself quite completely in the struggle itself. After this experience I felt that I could never be interested again in record breaking without the thrill of competitive struggle.

The last few years have covered a strange period in the history of athletics. They have seen the introduction of a new professionalism, not in the sense of unlimited financial reward, but in devoting unlimited time and energy to sport. Every country is seeking to enhance national prestige through physical achievements. Too few questions are asked about the means, provided the end of national glory is achieved.

I have tried to show that running refuses to fit into a pattern of this kind. If more and more work and time will bring about improvement in performance, then studies and vocations will not be allowed to stand in the way. Two years ago I felt depressed at this thought. If Zatopek ran 60 quarter-miles in 60 seconds each in a single workout, it seemed that only a man who could run and train still harder could beat him. Where would it all end?

Running would have lost its purpose. But this has not happened. I believe, and I know there are other runners who agree, that running has proved to be a truly amateur activity after all, on which it is neither necessary nor desirable to spend unlimited time and energy. Fitting running into the rest of life until one's work becomes too demanding—this is the burden and joy of the true amateur.

I am sure that athletics will safeguard itself, and for this reason, that it has essentially an individual, not a national, basis. We run not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves. It also does us good because it helps us to do other things better. It gives a man the chance to bring out power that might otherwise remain locked away inside himself. The urge to struggle lies latent in everyone. The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, "You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that." The human spirit is indomitable.