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
affair certain course exciting helps life met opened point pursuit running
It has been a life-long pursuit for me, ... Running is an affair of youth. It helps you through adolescence and, for me of course, at a certain point it opened doors. I met people, and traveled. Of course it can make life more exciting and fulfilling.
elements mile
The mile has all the elements of drama.
drive effort further gets himself man painful
The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful will win.
attach importance people
I don't attach the importance to it as a lot of other people do,
chasm himself last man save spring taking tape threatens
I leapt at the tape like a man taking his last spring to save himself from the chasm that threatens to engulf him.
motivational success fitness
The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.
leadership sports running
Sport is not about being wrapped up in cotton wool. Sport as about adapting to the unexpected and being able to modify plans at the last minute. Sport, like all life, is about taking risks.
sports doctors track
Doctors and scientists said breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line, I figured I was dead
legs toes break
I couldn't touch my toes with straight legs, but I could break 4 minutes for the mile.
unity movement conscious
No longer conscious of my movement, I discovered a new unity with nature. I had found a new source of power and beauty, a source I never dreamt existed.
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 country
My introduction to track racing was through the background of cross country running, which is not a sport perhaps as popular in America as it is in England.
athlete school hard-work
My concentration was really on getting to university and becoming a doctor. My parents let me know that school marks were important. Achievement was something which came by hard work.
sports essence important
The essence of sports is that while you're doing it, nothing else matters, but after you stop, there is a place, generally not very important, where you would put it.