"I'm only sorry in some aspects that there are problems with drugs and that is something which is an extreme sadness to me," he told ITV in 2017. Some of their athletes were allowed to compete under the name ‘Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR).’ Sadly, the chemists are still ahead of the testers.”Ī year prior to his death, Bannister said that doping is sport is one that brought him ‘extreme sadness.’ At this year’s Winter Olympics, the Russian delegation was banned from the games following historical doping. “Testing centres are now under the supervision of the World-Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Drugs are taken in training as well as competition, hence the vital importance of out-of-season testing.” He wrote into his 2004 autobiography Twin Tracks. “There will always be a battle against the use of performance enhancing drugs at the Olympics or in international competition. Once writing that in the fight against doping is one where the ‘chemists are still ahead of the testers.’ Despite his position, Bannister was never naive. His stance stems from a highly successful career in neurology, where he received acclaim for his research into the autonomic nervous system. Throughout his life, he was against the used of illegal drugs in sport. “The only problem was it took a long time for the Olympic and other authorities to introduce it on a random basis. “I foresaw the problems in the 1970s and arranged for the group of chemists to detect the first radioimmunoassay test for anabolic steroids,” Bannister told The Washington Post in 2014. Accusations that have been proven true in recent years. During the 1970s and 1980s, there was high speculation that Soviet and East German governments were supplying their athletes with illegal drugs. It was a landmark occasion in the fight against doping, especially considering the era. During his three-year role, he gathered a group of chemists to develop the first ever test for anabolic steroids. In 1971 Bannister was appointed the chairman of the British Sports Council (known today as UK Sport). That run is what Bannister is forever known for, but he also paid a crucial role in another area of sport. In reality, his world record for the mile only lasted for 46 days. In 2016 a poll of 2000 people voted it the sixth greatest moment in the history of sport. Running a mile in a time of 3:59.4.Īlmost 74 years have passed since the run, but it’s legacy continues. At the Iffley Road sports ground in front of an estimated 3000 spectators, he achieved what some considered unthinkable at the time. Once writing that the ideal athlete would be one that enjoyed a few drinks and the odd cigarette, Bannister’s historic race took place on May 6th, 1954. "As soon as I ceased to be a student, I always knew I would stop being an athlete." He once said. It was at Oxford where he started to participate in athletics. He studied medicine at Oxford University before attending St Mary’s college. For him, running had to fit around his educational commitments. He became the first man to run a mile in under four minutes and although his sporting milestone earned him immortality in the world of athletics, but it wasn’t his only significant contribution.īannister’s perception of life as an athlete was a stark contrast to those of the present day. On this day in 1954, Roger Bannister made history.
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