Four-minute mile legend carries torch at site of victory

ATHLETICS legend Sir Roger Bannister returned to the site of his greatest sporting achievement as he started yesterday’s journey of the Olympic flame.

Sir Roger was joined by London 2012 chairman Lord Coe at the Iffley Road track in Oxford to begin day 53 of the torch’s journey.

At the track – now renamed in honour of the famous middle-distance runner – the athlete broke the magical four-minute mile barrier on a balmy evening on 6 May 1954.

Sir Roger said: “It’s an honour to be included in a list of torch carriers which has included injured soldiers back from 
Afghanistan and other places, and I’m glad that it’s taking place on this track in Oxford where I ran the four-minute mile in 1954.

“It brings back happy memories and it also brings back some remembering of the weather. Today, it looks like it might rain and that day the weather was so bad that I nearly decided not to attempt it.

“In a way I’m back in the sport that I belong to. I spent ten years training before I broke the four-minute mile. I send my best wishes to all those who are training now and are competing in the Olympics in London.”

Lord Coe said: “It’s very special. Roger has done so much. Breaking the four-minute mile as a mark of athletic achievement sits central in the history of our sport. He paved the way for what we did in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.”

Hundreds of people watched as 83-year-old Sir Roger carried the flame along the athletics track before handing the torch to 25-year-old student Nicola Byrom, from Oxford.