罗杰·班尼斯特1929—2018

班尼斯特的运动员生涯从其于1946年进入牛津大学学习开始，在1952年夏季奥林匹克运动会上，他取得了1500米跑的第四名。1954年5月6日，班尼斯特在一次牛津大学同别校的校际对抗赛中以3分59秒4的成绩突破了4分大关，打破了长久以来人们心目中的人类极限。46天后，英国选手约翰·兰迪以3分58秒0的成绩打破了班尼斯特的世界纪录，但是班尼斯特已经作为打破人类极限的代表载入史册。

1954年8月29日，班尼斯特在赢得欧洲锦标赛1500米冠军后宣布退役，致力于神经学学习和研究。他其后曾出任牛津大学彭布罗克学院院长，2001年退休。

2004年的英镑50p上面是此事件的纪念。

Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile.

At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres and finished in fourth place. This achievement strengthened his resolve to become the first athlete to finish the mile run in under four minutes. He accomplished this feat on 6 May 1954 at Iffley Road track in Oxford, with Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher providing the pacing. When the announcer, Norris McWhirter, declared "The time was three...", the cheers of the crowd drowned out Bannister's exact time, which was 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds. He had attained this record with minimal training, while practising as a junior doctor. A 2002 Channel 4 poll in the UK saw Bannister's landmark run ranked number 13 in the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.

Bannister went on to become a neurologist and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, before retiring in 1993.

When asked whether the 4-minute mile was his proudest achievement, he said he felt prouder of his contribution to academic medicine through research into the responses of the nervous system. Bannister was patron of the MSA Trust. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2011.

Early life and education

Bannister was born on 23 March 1929 in Harrow, London. His parents, Ralph and Alice, were both from working-class families in Lancashire. Ralph had moved to London at the age of 15 to work in the Civil Service, and met Alice on a trip home. They married in 1925, and had a daughter, Joyce, before Roger was born.

The family moved to Bath shortly after the outbreak of World War II when Ralph was relocated there, and Roger continued his education at City of Bath Boys' School.

Athletics career

Early running career

Bannister was inspired by miler Sydney Wooderson's comeback in 1945. Eight years after setting the mile record and seeing it surpassed during the war years by the Swedish runners Arne Andersson and Gunder Hägg, Wooderson regained his old form and challenged Andersson over the distance in several races. Wooderson lost to Andersson but set a British record of 4:04.2 in Gothenburg on 9 September 1945.

Medical career

After retiring from athletics in 1954, Bannister spent the next forty years practising medicine in the field of neurology. In March 1957, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps at Crookham, where he started his two years of National Service with the rank of lieutenant.

Personal life

In 1955, Bannister married the Swedish artist Moyra Elver Jacobsson in Basel, Switzerland. Moyra Jacobsson-Bannister was the daughter of the Swedish economist Per Jacobsson, who served as managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

They had four children: Carol E. E. Bannister (b. 1957); Clive C. R. Bannister (b. 1959), an insurance industry executive; Thurstan R. R. Bannister (b. July 1960), a company director in New York; and Charlotte B. M. Bannister (b.

Legacy

On the 50th anniversary of running the mile in under four minutes, Bannister was interviewed by the BBC's sports correspondent Rob Bonnet. At the conclusion of the interview, Bannister was asked whether he looked back on the sub-4-minute mile as the most important achievement of his life. Bannister replied that he instead saw his subsequent forty years of practising medicine and some of the new procedures he introduced as being more significant.

Awards and honours

Bannister received many honours for his achievements in sports and medicine. He was the inaugural Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 1954. He was also knighted in the 1975 New Year Honours, and appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to sport.

Bannister was an Honorary Fellow of both Exeter College and Merton College, where he studied at the University of Oxford; he was also Honorary Fellow of Harris Manchester College, Oxford.

Other media

In 2014, he appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 4's Midweek with Libby Purves, Kevin Warwick and Rachael Stirling.