Roger Bannister and the four-minute mile / John Bale.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bale, John.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bannister, Roger.

Runners (Sports)--Great Britain--Biography.

Runners (Sports).

Great Britain.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xi, 143 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2004.

Summary:

"Roger Bannister and the Four Minute Mile "does more than detail the history of a sporting giant. It invites the reader to reconsider the very words often used to describe Bannister, notably hero and gentleman amateur. Informed by contemporary sport science, the text also questions the significance of the four-minute mile per se. Thoroughly researched, the text gives fascinating insights into the history of track racing as well as athletic training methods and the beginnings of sport science. The book is not just a testimonial to the legend of roger Bannister, but instead is the first rigorous historical study of Bannister's sporting life and the man behind the legend. It reveals him as an ambivalent athlete, highly achievement-orientated and scientific but also in love with the freedom of running sensuously in nature, in contrast to the constraints of modern sport.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [138]-143) and index.

ISBN:

0415346061

041534607X

OCLC:

55066784