This is a great post, by Patrick Belton over at Oxblog, on the anniversary of Sir Roger Bannister's great accomplishment: he was the first person to run a mile in under 4 minutes. An amateur, by the way. Patrick's got some very pointed comments about sports then, and sports now.
A beautiful post. I did not know the story of Sir Roger Bannister, and now I do.
Oh, and here's the story from BBC Sport.
Posted by sheilaI saw Bannister (and the other three contenders for the four-minute mark) on the CBS Morning-show-that-used-to-be-Kuralt's last Sunday. Bannister is such a wonderfully, dryly hilarious, yet very humble, guy. Reading more, I found he's really an amazing guy - the kind of thing all athletes should strive for.
Actually was knighted for his medical work, not the mile.
Posted by: mitch at May 6, 2004 12:26 PMSo cool.
Posted by: red at May 6, 2004 12:27 PMThat's great. Thanks for recommending it. I also liked the story here.
Posted by: Michael at May 7, 2004 04:05 AMAnother story here, taken from The New York Times. (It's pay-only at the Times's site.) My favorite bit:
Bannister once said that when he met Moyra, a few weeks after his historic sub-four, she knew nothing about sport. "She thought I had run four miles in one minute, and she wasn't much impressed," he said.
Posted by: Michael at May 7, 2004 04:13 AM