Roger Bannister Signed Photo
A iconic photo of Roger Bannister breaking the 4 minute mile barrier, along with his autograph signed on white index card and mounted on black card and framed in a 12" x 10" black frame. A great athletics signed memorabilia item. An undedicated autograph is extremely rare and is one of a few that are in existence.It would make a perfect gift, with an official certificate of authenticity.It has been boldly signed in blue marker and would make a superb addition to any athletics signed memorabilia collection.
Roger Bannister Bibliography;
Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister CBE, was born 23 March 1929 is an English retired athlete best known for running the first 4 minutes mile. He became a distinguished neurologist and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, before retiring in 2001.
He was the inaugural recipient of the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award in January 1955.
He was inspired by miler Sydney Wooderson's remarkable comeback in 1945. Eight years after setting the mile record and seeing it surpassed during the war years by the great Swedish runners Arne Andersson and Gunder Hägg, Wooderson challenged Andersson over the distance in several races, but although he lost to Andersson he set a British record of 4:04.2 in Göteborg.Subsequently like Wooderson, Bannister would ultimately set a mile record, see it broken, and then set a new personal best slower than the new record.
He started his running career at Oxford in the autumn of 1946 at the age of 17. He had never worn running spikes previously or run on a track but although his training was light, he showed promise in running a mile in 1947 in 4:24.6 after only three weekly half-hour training sessions.
He was selected as an Olympic hopeful in 1948, but declined the opportunity.However, he was inspired to become a great miler by watching the 1948 Olympics. He set his goals on the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.In 1949, he improved in the 880 yards to 1:52.7 and won several mile races in 4:11.
In 1950 there was more improvements, as he finished a relatively slow 4:13 mile on 1 July with an impressive 57.5 last quarter. Then, he ran the AAA 880 losing to Arthur Wint, and then ran 1:50.7 for the 800 m at the European Championships,finishing third. Annoyed by this lack of success, he started to train harder.
In 1951 at the Penn Relays, Bannister broke away from the pack with a 56.7 final lap, finishing in 4:08.3. Then, in his biggest test to date, he won a mile race on 14 July in 4:07.8 at the AAA Championships at White City.
He avoided racing after the 1951 season until late in the spring of 1952, saving his energy for the Olympics. He eventually finished 4th in the 1500m and set a British record.After this failure,he spent two months deciding whether to give up running but instead set himself on a new goal: to be the first man to run a mile in under 4 minutes.He then intensified his training to help achieve this.
In May 1953, he made an attempt on the British record at Oxford, where he was paced by Chris Chataway. He ran 4:03.6, shattering 1945 record.On 6 May 1954 he broe the 4 minute mile at a meeting between British AAA and Oxford University at Iffley Road Track in Oxford. The race was broadcast live by BBC Radio and commented on by Harold Abrahams, of Chariots of Fire fame.The winning time wasT 3 min 59.4 sec.He held the record for just 46 days as on the 21 June in Turku, Finland,the record was broken by his rival Landy with a time of 3 min 57.9 s, which the IAAF ratified as 3 min 58.0 s due to the rounding rules then in effect.Later on that season he went and won the "metric mile", the 1500m, at the European Championships in Bern on 29 August, with a championship record of 3 min 43.8. He then retired from athletics to concentrate on his work and to pursue a career in neurology.
A lovely piece of Athletic's Memorabilia.
THERE ARE ONLY A HANDFUL AROUND AND ARE A MUST FOR ANY COLLECTOR OF SIGNED OLYMPICS AND ATHLETICS MEMORABILIA. A lovely item signed by Roger Bannister in person with a lovely clear autograph. Add to cart now if you don't want to miss out on this piece of athletic's memorabilia! Just imagine this in your home, office, bar etc... what a talking point it would be, as soon as someone walked into the room !!!
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