Roger Bannister: Sub-Four-Minute Mile

　　罗杰·班尼斯特：第1位在4分钟内跑完1英里（1.609公里）的运动员

　　In 1954 it seemed unlikely--maybe even impossible--that anyone could run a mile in less than four minutes. Several runners had come close--Sweden's Gunder Haess had run the mile in four minutes and 1.4 seconds nine years previously--but no one could break through the four-minute barrier. People began to believe that it couldn't be done. Until Britain's Roger Bannister, that is. Competing at Oxford's Iffley Road track on May 6, 1954, the 25-year-old medical student wowed some 3,000 spectators when he crossed the finish line in three minutes and 59.4 seconds. Once the psychological barrier had been broken, mile times kept falling. Bannister's record stood a scant six weeks before John Landy of Australia ran the mile in three minutes and 58 seconds. The current world record is three minutes and 43.1 seconds.

　　1954年，任何人在4分钟内跑完1英里的赛程都被视为不可能的事情。9年之前，瑞典著名运动员歌德·海尔斯曾经创造过4分1秒4的最好成绩，然而在此之后的时间里，4分钟仍然是一道困扰所有运动员的门槛。而英国天才运动员，25岁的医学院学生罗杰·班尼斯特在1954年5月6日的牛津大赛中，以3分59.4秒的成绩创造了新的1英里跑记录。