Roger Bannister
Roger Bannister
Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister CBEis an English former middle-distance athlete, physician and academic, who ran the first sub-four-minute mile...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionRunner
Date of Birth23 March 1929
mother athlete parent
Mothers, unless they were very poor, didn't work. Both of my parents had to leave education. My mother had to work in a cotton mill until 18 or 19, when she took some training in domestic science.
athlete race people
I couldn't disappoint people. I did not want to fail and exhaust myself, because I was the kind of runner who trained so little that I couldn't race again within another 10 days.
athlete simple race
I came from such a simple origin, without any great privilege, and I would say I also wanted to make a mark. It wasn't until I was about 15 that I appeared in a race.
war school athlete
I lived on the top of one hill and the school was at the top of another hill. Nobody ever went to school by car - we didn't have any cars during the war. So that to and from school was itself a training.
people broken climbing-mount-everest
It's amazing that more people have climbed Mount Everest than have broken the 4-minute mile.
running drama elements
The mile has all the elements of a drama.
running men blame
If a man coaches himself, then he has only himself to blame when he is beaten.
sports athlete opportunity
If there was the opportunity to climb a mountain, or to go ballooning, or some adventurous activity, I would always be keen to do it. I loved the countryside.
sports running athlete
I raced supremely well. I felt I was as well fitted to do it as I had ever been, and as perhaps I might ever be. I went climbing three weeks before, because I was feeling fed up with running.
running giving-up records
The human spirit is indomitable. No one can ever say you must not run faster than this or jump higher than that. There will never be a time when the human spirit will not be able to better existing records.
legs toes break
I couldn't touch my toes with straight legs, but I could break 4 minutes for the mile.
sports athlete thinking
The reason sport is attractive to many of the general public is that it's filled with reversals. What you think may happen doesn't happen. A champion is beaten, an unknown becomes a champion.
mean impossible
Just because they say it's impossible doesn't mean you can't do it.
heart brain organs
It is the brain, not the heart or lungs, that is the critical organ.