Disappointed, and quite frankly disturbed, by the
impending swearing-in of the winner of a certain presidential race, I decided
to distract myself this week (I’m not the only one) with a book about a
different kind of race – the mile.
Reading a book about sports qualifies as a challenge since I haven’t read a (nonfiction) book about sports since 2009.
The
Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve
It
by Neal Bascomb tells the story of three men who are, well, in the running, to
be the first to achieve a four-minute mile.
After less than stellar showings at the 1952
Olympics in Helsinki, the men go home with renewed vigor to train harder and
better.
Roger Bannister, a British medical student, trains
alone when he’s not at the hospital. After failing to shave the last few seconds
off his time, he seeks out a coach. He is told he only needs three things
to achieve his goal: pacemakers, more strength, and complete belief in himself.
John Landy, an Australian agricultural science
student who would rather collect butterflies, shakes off the wild ways of his
first coach and makes his way to the better tracks of Europe to improve his
time.
Wes Santee, an American college student, depends on
his coach’s guidance at the University of Kansas. Enjoying the attention, he is
the most likely to thwart the rules about competing as an amateur.
As they run faster and faster, they capture the
world’s attention at a time when “people are looking towards athletes who are
confident and colorful” and sports are beginning to be broadcast on television.
“Technology, progress, and coincidence had all played a part in their story,” writes
Bascomb.
Almost as interesting as the record-breaking feat and
the nail-biting race between two of the men at the end of the book is the development of athletic training. In the days before elite training centers, teams
of dieticians and physiotherapists, and the temptations of
performance-enhancers, amateur athletes could only rely on myths, rumors, and
each other.
Nostalgic for a time when cheering on a contender meant
honoring someone’s talent, strength, experience, and sportsmanlike behavior, I
for one will be watching the clock.
3 comments:
On my list now.
You may have had your fill of sports nonfiction at the moment, but "The Boys in the Boat" is another good one in a similar vein. It's rowing, not running, and the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Maybe a little added interest for you is the setting for most of the book is Seattle.
Thanks for the recommendation!
Have you read Billion-Dollar Ball? I started it but lost interest after finishing the chapter on UT.
Bravo! Thanks for your review and your thoughts on today's unbelievable event.
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