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All sports have pivotal moments, single events that change perceptions forever after. For the sport of running, such a moment occurred on a blustery May afternoon in 1954, when Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile. This is the story of that epic run.
Today, more than fifty years later, lovers of the sport—runners and non-runners alike—will be moved by this modest but impassioned story of one of sport’s true heroes.
From the author’s introduction
It is strange that the intrinsically simple and unimportant act of placing one foot after another for 1,760 yards, as fast as possible, should become such an important sporting achievement. I think the appeal lies in its simplicity—it needs no money, no equipment, no particular physique, no knowledge, no education—and in a world of increasingly complex technology, it stands out as a naive statement about the nature of man. A man can, with his own two feet, overcome severe difficulties to reach a pinnacle upon which he can declare, “No one has done this before.”
| Introduction to the 50th Anniversary Edition | vii | |
| Introduction | 1 | |
| 1. | European Games Berne 1954 | 5 |
| 2. | Early Days | 15 |
| 3. | Oxford - Initiation | 29 |
| 4. | Oxford - Graduation | 43 |
| 5. | Olympic Games Wembley 1948 | 55 |
| 6. | First Tour in America 1949 | 67 |
| 7. | Hesitation and Transition, 1949-50 | 79 |
| 8. | Training and Touring 1950-51 | 93 |
| 9. | Benjamin Franklin Mile and First British Mile Title 1951 | 107 |
| 10. | Preparation for Olympic Games Helsinki 1952 | 121 |
| 11. | Olympic Games Helsinki 1952 | 131 |
| 12. | So Near and Yet - 1953 | 145 |
| 13. | Four-Minute Mile 1954 | 163 |
| 14. | Empire Games Vancouver 1954 | 179 |
| Conclusion | 197 | |
| Steps to the First Four-Minute Mile | 203 | |
| After the Four-Minute Mile | 205 | |
| Peril in the Post | 235 | |
| Running Cold | 239 | |
| Mile Record Holders since 1954 | 243 | |
| Author's Acknowledgments | 245 | |
| Index | 247 |
Overview
All sports have pivotal moments, single events that change perceptions forever after. For the sport of running, such a moment occurred on a blustery May afternoon in 1954, when Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile. This is the story of that epic run.
Today, more than fifty years later, lovers of the sport—runners and non-runners alike—will be moved by this modest but impassioned story of one of sport’s true heroes.