Roger Bannister, the first runner to break the 4-minute barrier in the mile, has died. He was 88.

Bannister's family said in a statement that he died peacefully on Saturday in Oxford, the English city where the runner cracked the feat many had thought humanly impossible on a windy afternoon in 1954.

Bannister, who went on to pursue a long and distinguished medical career, had been slowed by Parkinson's disease in recent years.

He was "surrounded by his family who were as loved by him, as he was loved by them," the family said in a statement announcing his death on Sunday. "He banked his treasure in the hearts of his friends."

Helped by two pacemakers, Bannister clocked 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds over four laps at Oxford's Iffley Road track on May 6, 1954, to break the 4-minute mile — a test of speed and endurance that stands as one of the defining sporting achievements of the 20th century.

"It's amazing that more people have climbed Mount Everest than have broken the 4-minute mile," Bannister said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2012.

In this file photo dated Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014, former British athlete Roger Bannister poses for a picture during the launch of the Westminster Mile run, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Bannister's record of being the first man to run a sub-four minute mile in May 1954, at Paddington Recreation Ground in London. A statement released Sunday March 4, 2018, on behalf of Bannister's family said Sir Roger Bannister died peacefully in Oxford on March 3, aged 88. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

 

The enduring image of the lanky Oxford medical student — head tilted back, eyes closed and mouth agape as he strained across the finishing tape — captured the public's imagination, made him a global celebrity and lifted the spirits of Britons still suffering through postwar austerity.

"It became a symbol of attempting a challenge in the physical world of something hitherto thought impossible," Bannister said as he approached the 50th anniversary of the feat. "I'd like to see it as a metaphor not only for sport, but for life and seeking challenges."

He might not have set the milestone but for the disappointment of finishing without a medal in the 1,500 meters, known as the metric mile, in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. Instead of retiring from the sport, he decided to chase the 4-minute mark.

Swedish runner Gundar Haegg's mile time of 4:01.4 had stood for nine years, but in 1954 Bannister, Australian rival John Landy and others were threatening to break it.

"As it became clear that somebody was going to do it, I felt that I would prefer it to be me," Bannister told the AP.

He also wanted to deliver something special for his country.

"I thought it would be right for Britain to try to get this," Bannister said. "There was a feeling of patriotism. Our new queen had been crowned the year before, Everest had been climbed in 1953. Although I tried in 1953, I broke the British record, but not the 4-minute mile, and so everything was ready in 1954."

His chance finally came on a wet, cool, blustery May afternoon during a meet between Oxford and the Amateur Athletic Association.

When Bannister looked up at the English flag whipping in the wind atop a nearby church, he feared he would have to call off the record attempt. But, shortly before 6 p.m., the wind died down. The race was on.

With Chris Brasher setting the pace on the cinder track, they ran a first lap in 57.5 seconds, then 60.7 — 1:58.2 for the half mile. Chris Chataway, a distance specialist, paced a third lap of 62.3 — 3:00.4. Bannister would need to run the final lap in 59 seconds.

With 250 yards to go, Bannister surged past Chataway, his long arms and legs pumping and his lungs gasping for oxygen.

"The world seemed to stand still, or did not exist," he wrote in his book, "The First Four Minutes."

"The only reality was the next 200 yards of track under my feet. The tape meant finality — extinction perhaps. I felt at that moment that it was my chance to do one thing supremely well. I drove on, impelled by a combination of fear and pride."

After Bannister crossed the finish line, the announcer read out the time: "3..." The rest was drowned out by the roar of the crowd.

The record lasted just 46 days, as Landy ran 3:57.9 in Turku, Finland, on June 21, 1954. That set the stage for the showdown between Bannister and Landy at the Empire Games, now called the Commonwealth Games, in Vancouver, British Columbia on Aug. 9, 1954.

Landy set a fast pace, leading by as much as 15 yards before Bannister caught up as the bell rang for the final lap.

"Around the last bend, I think the crowd was making so much noise he couldn't hear whether I was behind, or whether he'd dropped me, and he looked over his left shoulder, and I passed him on his right shoulder," Bannister said.

Bannister won the race in 3:58.8, with Landy second in 3:59. It was the first time two men had run under 4 minutes in the same race.

Bannister considered that victory even more satisfying than the first 4-minute mile because it came in a competitive race against his greatest rival.

In this May 6, 1954 file photo, Britain's Roger Bannister hits the tape to break the four-minute mile in Oxford, England. A statement released Sunday March 4, 2018, on behalf of Bannister's family said Sir Roger Bannister died peacefully in Oxford on March 3, aged 88. (AP Photo/File)

Bannister capped his brilliant summer of 1954 by winning the 1,500 meters at the European Championships in Bern, Switzerland, in a games record of 3:43.8.

Bannister, who was chosen as Sports Illustrated's first Sportsman of the Year in 1954, retired from competition and pursued a full-time career in neurology. As chairman of the Sports Council between 1971 and 1974, he developed the first test for anabolic steroids.

"None of my athletics was the greatest achievement," he said. "My medical work has been my achievement and my family with 14 grandchildren. Those are real achievements."

Bannister also served as master of Oxford's Pembroke College from 1985-93.

Bannister married Moyra Jacobsson, an artist, in 1955. They had two sons and two daughters and lived in a modest home only minutes away from the track where he made history.

Bannister outlived his 4-minute mile pacemakers: Brasher, who founded the London Marathon, died in 2003 at the age of 74. Chataway died in 2014 at 82.

Life in quotes: Roger Bannister on landmark sub 4-min mile

The Associated Press interviewed Roger Bannister several times in his later years, including for the 50th and 60th anniversaries of his landmark sub 4-minute mile.

Here are a selection of quotes from those interviews:

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On the allure of the 4-minute mile:

"It was a target. University athletes had been trying for years and it just didn't seem to be capable of being broken. There was a magic about four symmetrical laps of one minute each. It was just something that caught the public's imagination."

"Even then people were taking about whether it would ever be possible for someone to run a mile in 4 minutes. ... There was no logic in my mind that if you can run a mile in 4 minutes, 1.25, you can't run it in 3:59. ... I knew enough medicine and physiology to know it wasn't a physical barrier, but I think it had become a psychological barrier."

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On his drive to be the first to break the 4-minute barrier:

"It stood there as something that was waiting to be done, and I was in the right place at the right time and was ready to do it. My attitude was that it can be done, and it will be done soon, and I'd rather it were done here."

"I thought it would be right for Britain to try to get this. There was a feeling of patriotism. Our new queen had been crowned the year before, Everest had been climbed in 1953. Although I tried in 1953, I broke the British record, but not the 4-minute mile, and so everything was ready in 1954."

___

On the bad weather on the day of his attempt and his uncertainty over whether to run:

"I was using a flag on a neighboring church, a St. George's flag. I noticed it fluttering and I used that as a measure of the strength of the wind. And I felt that just 20 minutes before, it was not fluttering as strongly. ... I calculated there's a 50-50 chance of my doing it. I said, 'If there's a 50-50 chance and I don't take it, I may never get another chance to beat (John) Landy to it.' So I said, 'Let's do it.'"

___

On the size of the crowd at Oxford's Iffley Road track on the day of his run:

"If the number of people who have come up to me saying they were there, they would have fit into Wembley Stadium. Matter of fact, there weren't more than 1,500. I hadn't advertised the fact. Word got out that I might break the 4-minute mile, but I didn't want to be rail-roaded to being committed to running it if the conditions were absolutely hopeless."

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On the race:

"Chris Brasher was leading. He was a steeplechaser. I settled back. First lap, 58 seconds, and then as one hoped, he took us through the half-mile in 1:58. Then during the lap in which Chris Chataway took over, inevitably he was tiring. Three quarters, I heard was 3 minutes, 1 second. I knew I had to do the last lap in 59. At 300 meters, I overtook him. I then went flat out for the finishing line and just about managed to stagger over it, all in. I couldn't stand at the end. I had always been able to take more out of myself than there was in the final sprint and I did on that occasion."

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On the announcement of his time by Norris McWhirter:

"He had carefully rehearsed. He announced: 'The result of event No. 8, 1 mile, was R.G. Bannister, of Merton and Exeter Colleges, in a time which subject to ratification, is a new track record, a new British all-comers record, a new European record, a new Commonwealth Empire record, a new world record in 3....' That was when the crowd exploded and we didn't hear any more. It didn't matter what the rest was."

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On his showdown against John Landy at the Empire Games in Vancouver, British Columbia:

"I knew that more important than the 4-minute mile, from the point of view of my career, was whether I could or could not defeat John Landy. The Empire Games in Vancouver were the important settling of the score. If I didn't manage to defeat John Landy there, he would be the world record holder and have the right to be the best miler in the world."

"He went into the lead. The first half-mile was just on 2 minutes. At three-quarters he seemed to be getting away from me and there was a gap of about 12 yards at one point. But I managed to close the gap during the third lap, and then on the last bend he looked over his left shoulder and I chose that moment to overtake him and we managed to finish in that order: Bannister 1 and Landy 2, by about four yards."