I recently heard about the story of the 4 minute mile.
Most people raised in England, would know it was Roger Bannister, who claimed the title of the first person to run the mile in under 4 minutes, but until a few weeks ago, I was oblivious to the story behind it and how it was actually achieved.
I just thought, there was a race, and he ran in it. Really fast.
However on reading a few articles on this sporting achievement, I was lead to understand that it was possibly, only through the support and trust of his pace setters, that he was able to achieve this monumental world record. The world record that changed the face of running forever.
On May 6, 1954, Bannister was to attempt the 4 minute mile that was believed, until then, to be unachieveable. Doctors were reported to have said that it was physically impossible, the lungs would collapse, the heart would explode etc.
Bannister had been training with his buddies Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway, and on that day, there were designated to help him and pace set for him, so he could achieve this dream.
You can see from the video footage of the race, how the run went. As they started, Brasher pulled out in front to set the pace. Bannister was clearly feeling confident, as he was heard yelling at Brasher, “Faster, faster!” But Brasher kept the practiced pace. Halfway, Brasher fell back and Chataway took the lead and set the pace.
At the end of the race, Chataway fell back and Bannister sprinted with all his might to the finish line and broke the 4 minute barrier. Experts agree that if Brasher wouldn’t have kept Bannister on pace, Bannister wouldn’t have had the “oomph” to finish as strong and he would have failed to break the barrier.
How amazing, it's seems that he could not have done this alone. Clearly this will never be known, but this is a wonderful story of teamwork and trust. Bannister had to trust his teammates knew what they were doing and his team mates had to keep their cool and resolve, under clear stress and emotion.
Clearly Brasher was capable of speeding up when he heard Bannister yelling, yet he continued to believe in their pre-agreed plan, regardless of the possible consequences.
These psychological elements, made the achievement seem even more remarkable to me.
Nowadays, the record is held by Hicham El Guerrouj from Morocco with a time of 3.43.13
Clearly a remarkable feat, but I love the story of Bannister's dream and his buddies best. Not sure if I would have kept the pace, I think I may have been swept up in the emotion and gone faster as Bannister yelled!
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