Returning mile to Commonwealth Games would be perfect tribute to Bannister

World athletics boss Seb Coe wants Commonwealth athletes to go for gold over a mile when the Games are staged in Birmingham in four years time, writes James Toney on the Gold Coast.

The IAAF president believes replacing the 1500m with a race over four laps would be the perfect tribute to Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to run a sub-four minute mile, who passed away last month.

Bannister famously beat Australian rival John Landy to the ‘Miracle Mile’ at the 1954 Games in Vancouver, just a few months after his landmark world first.

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The legendary Kip Keino won the last mile staged at the Games but since 1970, middle distance runners have competed over 1500m when the Games switched to metric rather than imperial units.

“We have had the thought of introducing the mile back into the Commonwealth Games and I have an ambition to create and celebrate our own heritage, because often we have events that are the bedrock of our history,” he said.

“Some of the great moments in track and field have been established in a Commonwealth Games. We still talk about the Miracle Mile, 1954 in Vancouver, these are indelible moments.”

And Commonwealth Games officials appear open to the idea of giving their athletics programme a special flavour.

“That is something that we have been talking with the IAAF about recently, particularly with the passing of Sir Roger Bannister,” said CGF president David Grevemberg.

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