OpEd -- Only One Choice to Light Olympic Caldron

(ATR) Roger Bannister never won an Olympic medal, but the man who shattered the four-minute mile seems the only choice to light the caldron during next week’s opening ceremony of the London Games.

Bannister came up short in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, finishing fourth in the 1500m. His failure to medal led him to consider giving up running to concentrate on his studies to become a physician. But his obsession to break the four-minute mark in the longer distance -- a goal shared by his contemporaries in the U.K. and other countries -- kept him going.

In May 1954, he succeeded on a cloudy, cool day in Oxford at a track on Iffley Road that now bears his name. Two weeks ago, in the same place, dressed in a blazer and not the torchbearer’s costume, he held the Olympic torch aloft and passed the flame to the first runner of the day.

Now 83, still spry, alert and full of memories of that historic day 58 years ago, Bannister recounted the exploit. He said he wondered whether conditions that day would be suitable for that latest attempt to break the record, but then he put doubt aside. He might not get another chance, he noted.

His rivals around the globe were also in the hunt. While he broke the record May 6, it did not stand long. Australian John Landy ran a faster race 45 days later, in June. But Bannister wasn’t about to relinquish the title. At the Empire Games in Vancouver later that summer, the Brit and the Oz went head to head in the home stretch of the mile that ended with Bannister striding past Landy to win, equaling Landy’s record of 3:58.

Dubbed the "Miracle Mile", the race "was in a way more important to me than the four-minute mile," Bannister told ATR in an interview. His track career would not last much longer.

"I had managed to win this Empire Games title and then I won the European title three weeks later in Bern in a time which was better thanthe previous record. I had at the end of that same month had qualified as a doctor. I hung up my spikes and did not race again," he told ATR.

Even if Bannister’s achievements on the track weren’t enough to make him deserving of the honor, his life after competition surely should.

He became one of the world’s distinguished neurologists. This year he is completing an update of his textbook that’s considered a standard for medical students.

He remained involved as a sports leader, becoming the first head of the British Sports Council and launching the initial efforts to root out use of anabolic steroids. Bannister was knighted in 1975.

Bannister has a family, too: his wife of 50+ years, Moyra, four children and 14 grandchildren, some of whom will be there next week when he travels to London for the opening of the Games.

When pressed as to whether he would be the one to light the Olympic caldron, he said he had "no comment."

In an era of professional sport, Bannister represents a time when athletes such as him were regarded as amateurs. He needed to carefully tread through now seemingly petty rules which, if broken, could have led to his ineligibility to compete.

He balanced sport with career, a challenge for many modern-day athletes whose life after competition can be bleak.

As London 2012 aims to use these Olympics as a source of inspiration to a new generation, who better to be the final torchbearer than someone who straddles two different eras, someone whose life exemplifies the ideals of Olympism? Who from Great Britain offers the same combination of qualities?

Roger Bannister is a not just a national treasure for England. He is a potent symbol for the youth of the world of the good that can come from sport.

If inspiration is what drives London to host the 2012 Olympics, let Roger Bannister hold the flame during opening ceremony.

Written in London by Ed Hula.