Bannister carries Olympic torch on fabled track

Queen Elizabeth II has met an old flame - the fire lit in Greece to mark the London Olympics.

The monarch carried an unopened umbrella Tuesday as torchbearer Gina Macgregor held the torch. The sodden 74-year-old runner joked about being caught in downpour and told the queen that she had "looked fine this morning."

The flame's visit to Windsor Castle came on an eventful day for the relay, which began with the torch being held aloft by Roger Bannister, the first runner to smash the 4-minute mile in 1954.

The torch is winding its way 8,000 miles across the country ahead of the 27 July - 12 August Olympics. Organisers say the flame should come within 10 miles of 95 percent of the population.

Roger Bannister returned to the track where he broke the 4-minute barrier for the mile 58 years ago, walking slowly but smiling broadly as he carried the Olympic torch across the finish line yesterday in a powerful moment just 17 days before the start of the London Games.

The 83-year-old Bannister walked 30 meters along the track, holding the Olympic torch aloft in his left hand as hundreds cheered for a man who is an embodiment of sporting achievement in Britain.

Bannister - who shattered an ankle in a car accident in 1975 and has been unable to run since then - put his walking cane aside and leaned on a young man to descend three stairs from the podium where the Olympic torch was lit to start the day's relay.

Wearing a blue blazer, red sweater and black tie, he walked down the track before handing the torch to an Oxford doctoral student who then ran a full lap wearing the white torchbearer uniform.

Bannister declined to wear the uniform, fueling speculation that the Oxford-educated neurologist may put on the outfit to light the cauldron at the opening ceremony in London on 27 July.

Bannister is among those considered a candidate to light the cauldron. He refused to speculate, saying he was fully focused on yesterday's torch relay event.

Bannister said he felt "right at home" on the track where he ran the mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds on 6 May 1954. The Iffley Road track is now called the Roger Bannister track.

The strong winds on a chilly, rainy Tuesday reminded him of that historic day when "the weather was so bad that I nearly decided not to attempt it."

Among those on hand yesterday was Sebastian Coe, the former two-time Olympic 1,500-meter gold medalist and mile record-holder who chairs the organizing committee for the London Games.

Despite attending eight Olympics - one as an athlete and seven as a spectator - Bannister never won an Olympic medal. He finished fourth in the 1,500 meters at the 1952 Helsinki Games.

Bannister had a distinguished 40-year medical career since retiring after the 1954 Empire Games. He was knighted in 1975.