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¢ Interviews with BC Sports Hall of Fame
Curator and a former Olympian the

historic event

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Remembering the 1954 ‘Miracle Mile’

» Interviews with BC Sports Hall of Fame Curator and a former Olympian the historic event

Brandon Yip
Senior Columnist

 

he month of August marks a notable

sports anniversary. On August 7, 1954,
the “Miracle Mile” captured the hearts and
imagination of the sporting world. The
event helped put Vancouver on the world
stage as an attractive destination city for
hosting high-profile sporting events.

The race featured two runners sharing
the spotlight in this epic four-lap event:
Roger Bannister of England at 25 years old
and John Landy of Australia at 24 years
old. The momentous occasion occurred at
the Empire Stadium in Vancouver during
the final day of competition at the British
Empire and Commonwealth Games
(BECG).

Prior to the Miracle Mile, Bannister
became the first man to run the mile in
under four minutes at a race in Oxford,
England on May 6, 1954—with a time
of 3:59.4. It was a triumph that many
considered humanly impossible in 1954. A
month later on June 21, 1954, John Landy
would break Bannister’s record at a race in
Turku, Finland—with a time of 3:58. The
stage was now set and the world would be

watching the two men meeting weeks later
at the BECG for the mile race at Empire
Stadium in Vancouver—with 35,000 people
in attendance.

Remarkably, the race would be shown
live on CBC television and journalists
from all over the globe were in attendance
covering this much anticipated race.
The starting gun was fired—the race
was under way. John Landy would have
a significant lead during the first part of
the race. He looked strong and confident
while maintaining good consistent strides.
Bannister was trailing in the pack and
it appeared that victory for Landy was
inevitable.

However, during the final lap,
Landy while running around the final
curve, glanced to his left to gauge where
Bannister was. It would prove to be
pivotal, as Bannister made a late surge
and sprinted past Landy to his right
to win the race. Bannister, exhausted,
collapsed into the arms of an official.
Shortly after, Bannister looked for Landy
and the two men embraced in a show of
good sportsmanship. Bannister finished
the race with a time of 3 minutes 58.8
seconds, followed by Landy with a time of 3
minutes 59.6 seconds (0.8 seconds behind

Bannister). Canadian runner Rich Ferguson
notably finished in third place with a time
of 4 minutes and 4.6 seconds. The race

also made history for having two runners

in the same race run the mile in under four
minutes.

The Miracle Mile would be celebrated;
Roger Bannister appeared on the front
cover of Sports Illustrated in January 1955—
and was hailed as the first Sportsman of
the Year in 1954. As well, the race would
become immortalized with a statue
depicting both runners—sculpted by Jack
Harman and unveiled in 1967. The statue
would later be moved to the north end of
Empire Fields in July 2015, the area where
the famous race occurred.

After the Miracle Mile, Roger Bannister
retired from running and studied medicine
to become a neurologist. He died in
March 2018 at the age of 88. John Landy
on the other hand became an author, avid
butterfly collector, and governor of Victoria
in his native Australia from 2001 until 2006.
He celebrated his goth birthday on April 12.

Dr. Doug Clement, former Canadian
Olympic athlete and sprinter was
competing at the 1954 British Empire and
Commonwealth Games in Vancouver. He
was a member of the Canadian 4x440 yard

relay team that won the silver medal. Dr.
Clement remembers the Miracle Mile very
well, as he was standing trackside watching
the race unfold. “Tt was the event of the
century bringing the first two men to break
the four-minute barrier in the mile,’ Dr.
Clement said in an email interview with
the Other Press.

Jason Beck, curator at the BC Sports
Hall of Fame and author of the 2016
book, The Miracle Mile, says the race
helped solidify Vancouver's reputation to
host future prominent sporting events.
“We were suddenly a destination and
‘big league,” Beck explained in an email
interview with the Other Press. “So, it’s an
early defining moment for the city and the
province as we grew into the international
sporting destination that we've become.”

The games even gave the locals an
easy justification for their pride: “It gave us
confidence that we were much more than
another ‘village backwater’ which many
thought Vancouver was in the 1950s. It
was our entrance onto the world stage. We
should be proud of the big moments in our
history and celebrate these. There are fewer
bigger than the Miracle Mile for BC in my
opinion.”