Roger Bannister facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Sir Roger Bannister
CH CBE FRCP
	Bannister in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Roger Gilbert Bannister
Nationality	British
Born	23 March 1929; Harrow, England
Died	3 March 2018 (aged 88); Oxford, England
Height	187 cm
Weight	70 kg
Sport
Country	Great Britain
Sport	Athletics/Track, Middle-distance running
Event(s)	Mile, 800 metres, 1500 metres
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	Outdoor; 800 m: 1:50.7 (Brussels 1950); 1500 m: 3:43.8 (Bern 1954); Mile: 3:58.8 (Vancouver 1954);
Competitor for England
	British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Competitor for Great Britain
	European Championships

Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister CH CBE (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English athlete, physician and educator. He is best known for being the first person to run the mile in less than four minutes. Many people thought this was impossible, a natural limit of the human body, until he did it in 1954.

Bannister was born in Harrow, Middlesex. He was the first recipient of the Sports Illustrated "Sportsman of the Year" award in January 1955. He was a neurologist and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford. He retired in 2001.

Bannister was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2011. He died of the disease on 3 March 2018 in Oxford, England at the age of 88.

Quotations

"We run, not only because we think it is doing us good, but ... because it helps us to do other things better."

The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle--when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."

Images for kids

Blue plaque at the Paddington Recreation Ground pavilion
Roger Bannister and John Landy at Iffley Road on the 50th anniversary of the four-minute mile 6 May 2004
Blue plaque at Oxford University's Iffley Road Track, recording the first sub-4-minute mile run by Roger Bannister on 6 May 1954
Statue in Vancouver immortalising the moment in "The Miracle Mile" when Roger Bannister passed John Landy, with Landy looking back to gauge his lead
Bannister with wife Moyra, son Clive and daughter Carol in 1959