Four-minute mile

In athletics, the four-minute mile is the running of a mile (1,609.344 metres, 5280 feet) in under four minutes. It was once thought by some to be impossible, but it was first achieved in 1954 by Roger Bannister. The 'four minute barrier' has since been broken by many male athletes, and is now the standard of all professional middle distance runners. In the last 50 years the mile record has been lowered by almost 17 seconds.

Record holders

John Walker managed to run 129 sub-four-minute miles during his career (during which he was the first person to run over 100 sub-four-minute miles), and American Steve Scott has run the most sub-four-minute miles, with 136. Currently, the mile record is held by Hicham El Guerrouj, who set a time of 3 minutes 43.13 seconds in Rome in 1999.

Another illustration of the progression of performance in the men's mile is that in 1994, forty years after Bannister's breaking of the barrier, the Irish runner Eamonn Coghlan became the first man over age 40 to run a sub-four-minute mile.

No woman has yet run a four-minute mile, although it is thought to be physically possible. The current women's record holder is retired Russian Svetlana Masterkova, with a time of 4 minutes 12.56 seconds.

In 1997, Daniel Komen of Kenya ran two miles in under eight minutes, doubling up on Bannister's accomplishment. [http://www.alltime-athletics.com/m_2miok.htm]

Popular culture

In 1988, the ABC and the BBC co-produced a miniseries dramatisation of the race to the four-minute mile, featuring Richard Huw as Bannister and Nique Needles as Landy. It was written by David Williamson and directed by Jim Goddard.

ee also

*World record progression for the mile run
*Athletics (track and field)
*Dream Mile
*Middle distance track event

External links

* [http://www.forbes.com/2005/11/18/bannister-four-minute-mile_cx_de_lr_1118bannister.html Forbes magazine declared four-minute mile as "greatest athletic achievement"]