Dear tweekie-ga;
Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. By the
time Roger Bannister came around the four-minute miles was not unheard
of. On 6 May 1954 however, Roger Bannister became the first human to
break a four-minute mile when he ran the first timed sub-four-minute
mile in history at Iffley Road track AT Oxford University. Bannister
completed the mile in 3:59:4 averaging an almost unfathomable average
speed of 15.037 miles per hour.
SIR ROGER BANNISTER
http://www.who2.com/rogerbannister.html
Bannister?s world record was short lived however and on June 21, 1954,
an Australian agricultural student named John Landy, running at a
track in Turku, Finland, beat the record by completing a mile run in
3:57.9.
JOHN LANDY
http://www.geocities.com/geetee/bios/landy.html
Interestingly enough, Landy was never able to beat his own record,
though he did run a number of other 4-minute miles in his career. At
one point he even raced Bannister and was beaten by him by a span of
mere seconds, only to reveal some time later than he had been running
with four stitches in his foot because he had accidentally stepped on
a broken flash bulb before the race. At another point in Landy?s
career he was racing a field of runners when another runner fell.
Landy stopped briefly to make sure the lad was ok, then chased down
the field and won, completing the mile in just over 4 minutes, 4
seconds.
It sounds almost too far-fetched to believe but the incident did
indeed occur and the fall was even captured on camera:
IMAGE: http://www.wesleymission.org.au/reachout2000/sermons/landy.1.jpg
Here is a photo of Landy and Clarke together many years later:
http://www.mitchmitchellsculptor.com/ALL%20MITCH%20PIX/3%20Landy%2017.gif
The incident was so inspiring that there was even a statute commission
to commemorate Landy?s excellent sportsmanship, depicting Landy
returning to help his fallen friend during the race regardless of his
own person cost:
http://www.mitchmitchellsculptor.com/ALL%20MITCH%20PIX/2%20landy.gif
Whatever became of him?
Today Sir John Michael Landy is the Governor of Victoria, Australia:
http://www.governor.vic.gov.au/welcome.htm
I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher
INFORMATION SOURCES
HISTORY OF THE RECORD FOR THE MILE RUN
http://www.infoplease.com/ipsa/A0112924.html
SEARCH STRATEGY
SEARCH ENGINE USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
World record
Mile
Four minute
Under four minutes
Roger Bannister
John Landy |
