Sports
Roger Bannister and the four-minute mile
12 min
How a barrier widely called physiologically impossible was broken in 1954 — and why, once Bannister proved it could be done, other runners broke it within weeks, a case study in the psychology of limits.
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Show notes
Medical experts in the nineteen fifties believed the human heart could fail at a four-minute mile pace.
Roger Bannister used human pacemakers and mathematical calculations to run a three fifty-nine point four mile.
High-intensity interval repetitions replaced steady-state jogging as the standard training method for elite runners.
John Landy broke Bannister's record in Finland just forty-six days after the initial breakthrough.
Sixteen different athletes joined the sub-four-minute club within three years of the barrier being broken.
The Central Governor Theory suggests the brain acts as a software limiter to prevent physical exhaustion.
In this episode
- 1Intro1 min
- 2The Everest of Athletics2 min
- 3The Iffley Road Miracle3 min
- 4The Floodgates Open3 min
- 5The Science of Belief3 min
- 6Outro1 min
Sources
- 70 years since Bannister's 3:59.4 – "I knew I had done it before I even heard the time" | News | Heritage | World Athletics
- Roger Bannister runs first four-minute mile | May 6, 1954 | HISTORY
- Sir Roger Bannister's ‘impossible’ feat
- 72 Years Ago Today: Roger Bannister Breaks The Four Minute Mile | RunRepublic
- Four Minute Everest: The Story and the Myth | Runner's World
- Breaking The 4 Minute Mile: History, Psychology & Tips | TheStartingPace
- Podcast: Roger Bannister, the 4-Minute Mile, and the Courage to Run in the Rain - Optimistic Beacon
- The Roger Bannister Effect: The Myth of the Psychological ...
- Four-minute mile - Wikiwand
- Roger Bannister: First sub-four-minute mile
- 4-Minute Mile Is Achieved By Bannister of England; Bannister Runs Mile in World Record Time of 3:59.4 BRITON FIRST MAN UNDER 4 MINUTES - The New York Times
- From the AW archive: Roger Bannister's first sub-four-minute mile - Athletics Weekly
- BBC SPORT | Athletics | Bannister's magical moment
- Sir Roger Bannister | Academy of Achievement
- The Man Who Broke The 4‐Minute Mile
- BBC ON THIS DAY | 6 | 1954: Bannister breaks four-minute mile
- 70 YEARS SINCE BANNISTER'S SUB-FOUR MINUTE MILE | Oxford Alumni
- The Magical Mile : Forty Years Ago Today, Britain's Roger Bannister Was First to Break the Four-Minute Barrier - Los Angeles Times
- Roger Bannister turns clock back 60 years and still feels the thrill | Athletics | The Guardian
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