Bannister did not set the "ultimate" WR. His mark was beaten many times
throughout the 1950s. Runners like the Hungarians, Czechs, Russians, and
Australians trained much harder than those in the past, and forced records
down in all events from the 1500 on up. Marks that were world records in
1948, were not even world class by 1960. You cannot draw conclusions about
an era from a single runner in a single event.
Richard McCann
At 01:04 PM 9/2/2001 -0800, Johntherunner wrote:
>Richard,
>
>What about Roger Bannister? Wasn't he from the 50's? Perhaps you could
>explain his training schedule to us.
>
>John the crazy alaskan runner
>I wrote:
>
>"Also, that higher work level is a direct result of professionalization of
>sprinting. My statement about levels of "investment" relate most directly
>to the pre-profestional period. In the pre-professional period, few
>sprinters worked as hard as distance runners. I believe one of the main
>reasons why the 100m WR continues to drop is largely because of the
>increased work level of world class sprinters, just as a similar phenomenon
>drove down distance WRs in the 1950s and 60s."
>
>Richard McCann
