The Times - UK (2021-12-18)

22 1GS Saturday December 18 2021 | the times

FROM THE ARCHIVES

A look back at a memorable moment in sport

S

even months is a long time in

British sport. On May 6, 1954,

Roger Bannister became the

first man to run a mile in

under four minutes. By

December, he was not even the

country’s most popular runner and

the inaugural BBC Sports Personality

of the Year went to his one-time

pacemaker. The award what

television won.

It was a distinguished year for

those who run a mile and sometimes

more, and thanks to the increasing

prevalence of TVs in British lives, a

reported audience of 12 million were

rapt with the events of October 13.

Under the spotlight at White City, in

a match between London and

Moscow, Christopher Chataway beat

Vladimir Kuts over 5,000m in a

world-record 13min 51.6sec. This was,

so the athletics correspondent of The

Times wrote, “one of the most

remarkable races ever seen on a

British track”. Chataway stayed on

Kuts’s heels while he sprinted away

on the final lap, overhauling him in

the final 20 yards as a crowd of about

40,000 took up the chant of “Chat-a-

way”.

Two months earlier, Chataway had

beaten Emil Zatopek but lost to Kuts

over the same distance at the

European Championships in Bern.

All three were in the thick of rivalry

at a time when the four-minute mile

was the standard to beat. Sydney

Wooderson had run 4min 6.4sec in

1937; five seconds were taken off that

during the Second World War by a

pair of Swedes, Gunder Haegg and

Arne Andersson. Who would be the

first below four? Gaston Reiff? John

Landy? Wes Santee?

Bannister was the man, on a

Thursday at Iffley Road. In the

annual match between the

University of Oxford and the

Amateur Athletic Association,

Bannister, Chris Brasher, Chataway

and Tom Hulatt represented the

AAA over a mile, George Dole and

Alan Gordon the university. Brasher

set the pace and Chataway took over

on the third lap. Bannister

“lengthened his magnificent stride”

on the back stretch and pulled away

from his friend, finishing in 3min

59.4sec. Chataway clocked a

personal-best 4min 7.2sec.

That epochal effort was in the

presence of BBC’s Sportsview, a

programme that had launched only

four weeks previously. In 1954, there

was plenty of sport to remember:

Hungary had somehow failed to win

the Fifa World Cup; Jean Westwood

and Lawrence Demmy were ice-

dancing champions at the World

Figure Skating Championships;

Johnny Wardle befuddled Pakistan

and county batsmen all summer with

his left-arm spin. But it was athletics

that led the way, with Bannister and

Chataway also winning golds at the

British Empire and Commonwealth

Games in Vancouver, when it came

to the Sports Review of the Year on

December 30.

The public had to vote by postcard

and only athletes who had featured

on Sportsview were eligible. From an

outside broadcast at the Sporting

Record awards at London’s Savoy

Hotel, Peter Dimmock nipped on

stage and dished out the award to

Chataway. The 45-minute

programme was off air by 8.30pm.

Bannister had consolation: he won

the Sporting Record’s top prize. “You

and your friend Chataway are for us

what the Americans call ‘lovely

men’,” Lord Brabazon of Tara said in

his paean to Bannister, whatever that

meant. “And don’t any of you forget

in this room that you are in the

presence of an immortal.”

Chataway retired from elite

athletics after the 1956 Olympics,

aged 25, and after a stint as a TV

reporter he was elected as a

Conservative MP for Lewisham

North and then Chichester between

1959 and 1974, serving in Edward

Heath’s government.

In addition to a career in banking,

he was chairman of ActionAid and

the Civil Aviation Authority. He was

knighted in 1995 – 20 years after

Bannister. Brasher, who co-founded

the London Marathon, had to make

do with a CBE. They were lifelong

friends.

He may not be immortal, but for a

two-month period in 1954 Chataway

was the house that TV built, the most

famous sportsman in the land.

1954

SPORTS PERSONALITY

OF THE YEAR

PA

Elgan Alderman

Chataway, left,

edged out

Bannister to

win the first

Spoty award

With more women playing rugby

union than ever before, the

competition for an international

jersey has never been so fierce.

Maud Muir, one of the youngest

players in the England squad, is a

prime example of that. The 20-year-

old tight-head has

already made a

sizeable impact on the

Premier 15s, winning

the players’ player

award at Wasps last

season. However, the

strength and depth in

the English game means

she has struggled to find a

starting position in

the Red Roses team.

Muir finally made

her senior debut in

the autumn, coming

off the bench in

their first three Tests

and starting against

the USA in England’s

89-0 victory.

It is Muir’s versatility that makes

her such a promising impact player

for Simon Middleton, England’s head

coach. She can play all three

positions in the front row and would

not be out of place filling any spot in

the pack as one of the most

dominant scrummagers in the

Premier 15s. She is also an interesting

phenomenon in women’s rugby, as

one of the forwards who

has accelerated her

progress by adapting to

the law variations

introduced to the

Premier 15s last year.

The changes,

brought in to reduce

face-to-face contact,

dramatically reduced

the number of scrums

and lineouts in games and

completely changed the role of

the front row.

There was more ball-in-play time,

many more kicks to chase, and fewer

breaks to catch a breath while a

scrum or lineout was formed.

The result is a new breed of more

dynamic forward and Muir is top of

that class. They are fit, fast, and have

an added stamina that would not be

recognised by the old front row

union.

Given the opportunity at next

year’s Six Nations and World Cup,

Muir is likely to be one of the most

exciting players from the new era of

English players who have only

known professional status and more

importantly, only know how to win.

RISING STAR

TO WATCH

Maud Muir

Age: 20

Born: Oxford

Club: Wasps Women,

joined in March 2018

Position: Front row

Qualifications: Muir is

studying for a BSc in

sports science

at Brunel University

London

Interesting fact: Muir

coaches at Maidenhead

rugby club alongside

The Sunday Times

rugby correspondent

Stephen Jones

4

The number of caps

Muir has won, the first

three from the bench

and the final one as a

starter against USA

Jessica Hayden

Muir is a

star for

Wasps,

right,

and now

England