118th Edition
Roger Bannister
Faith Kipyegon, an extraordinary Olympic track & field champion from Kenya recently attempted to become the first woman to run the mile under four minutes. A recent Wall Street Journal article described her historic attempt, which took place in Paris on June 26th. The article compared her attempt to Roger Bannister’s record-breaking mile in 1954, when he became the first miler to break the 4-minute barrier. Specifically, the article stated, “When Bannister broke the 4-minute barrier, he drafted closely behind two different pacers for more than 80% of the run. True, he remained in second place until sprinting the final 300 yards. But that was typical of middle-distance races then as it is today. More often than not, in distances such as the mile, the winner doesn’t lead the entire race. By omitting other notable details about Bannister’s historic race, the author of the WSJ article created the impression that Kipyegon’s attempt and Bannister’s accomplishment were very similar. Other than they both ran the same distance, their respective attempts were quite different.
To be clear, in no way am I trying to detract from what Kipyegon is trying to do. She is a great champion, and I hope she accomplishes this lofty goal. At the same time, there is no comparison to how she attempted to do what Roger Bannister did do.
First, Bannister ran on a cinder track that is 1-2 seconds per lap slower than running surfaces today. Eight seconds in a mile race translates into a distance of approximately sixty yards. In virtually all world class mile races the entire field typically finishes within a much tighter band than sixty yards. Second, he wore standard leather spikes, which cost around $20, roughly one tenth of what top-of-line track shoes cost today. He also wore basically the same shorts and singlet worn by every other competitor in the race. Third, he had no corporate sponsor.
In contrast, Kipyegon’s attempt was choreographed by Nike, from her state-of-the art shoes and track suit, to the precision formation of the pace setters who surrounded her from start to finish to block the wind. Six of the runners shielding and pacing her were men. Kipyegon never led the race at any point.
Again, she is an amazing runner, the best woman miler of all time. But if you are going to compare her to Roger Bannister, be thorough and include all relevant details. When history is made, details matter, don’t they? How many games were played? How many at bats? It all matters when it comes to evaluating record-setting performances.
Moreover, record setting performances should not be contrived as was her attempt. They should happen in the ordinary course of athletic competition with no extraordinary advantages built in. This was clearly not the case in Kipyegon’s attempt, as it was when Bannister ran his epic race.
On a related note, Bannister’s track shoes from that historic race were recently purchased at auction for $400,000, twenty thousand times their original cost.
Do you think if Kipyegon breaks the 4-minute mile, someday in the future someone will pay $4 million for her Nike specials? If the race is contrived, they won’t be worth as much.
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Michael Kayes
*These views are my personal opinions and are not the viewpoints of any company or organization.