Sports/Outdoors: Roger Bannister

Note: Athletes and outdoorsmen provide convincing proof that a celebrity is not merely someone famous for being famous. To become a celebrity athlete, one must train extremely hard in order to stand out from the herd. Shown here is a sample of athletes and outdoorsmen whose celebrity is tied to one great or unusual accomplishment.


Such a man was Roger Bannister of England, the man who broke the 4-minute mile.

The slim, thoroughly English-looking Bannister was a student at Oxford University when he began training as a runner. His results at the 1952 Olympics brought him little recognition, but in May of 1954, at a track meet in Oxford, he became an instant international celebrity by running the mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.

Less than two months later, Australian miler John Landy broke Bannister's record with a time of 3 minutes 58 seconds, but such is the nature of celebrity that Bannister, as the first person ever to break the long talked-about 4-minute barrier, has been far more celebrated than has Landy.



Bannister went on to become a neurologist and educator at Oxford.