Up until 1954, it was the common belief that running a full mile in under 4 minutes was impossible to do.
Roger Bannister was a 25 year old student at Oxford University and widely regarded as the best middle-distance runner in the country of Great Britain. Going into the race, he was coming off a disappointing performance in the 1500m at the 1952 Olympics. With the help of his pacemaker, Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher, Bannister came through the halfway point right on pace at 1 minute and 58 seconds. Drafting behind Chataway on the final two laps, Bannister began to pick it up and speed past Chataway on the final turn.
After Bannister did what was thought to be impossible, a major mental barrier was broken in the sport of running. The record has been beaten by 16 seconds since, standing at 3:43, a feat accomplished by Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999.
Since Bannister broke the barrier, almost 2,000 athletes have broken 4 minutes in the mile, with the youngest athlete to do it being Sam Ruthe of New Zealand(who ran a 3:58 at 15 years of age) being the youngest and latest to ever do it.
