John Landy, former world record holder in the mile and 1500m, has died at the age of 91, the International Athletics Federation announced on Saturday. The Australian was the second athlete, after his great British rival Roger Bannister, to have run the mile (1609m) in less than four minutes in 1954. He had run it in 3 minutes 58 seconds, a record that stood for three years .
International Athletics Federation President Sebastian Coe, a two-time Olympic 1500m champion, said on Saturday that the sport has a “huge debttowards Landy. “He ignited the spark that led to the legendary four-minute mile race between 1952 and 1954” he added, pointing out that if Roger Bannister had been the first to reach this milestone, “he was also the first to acknowledge that Landy’s excellence inspired him to achieve this historic landmark“. John Landy was bronze medalist in the 1500m at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956.
