Editing Roger Bannister (section)

===1952 Olympics===
Bannister avoided racing after the 1951 season until late in the spring of 1952, saving his energy for Helsinki and the Olympics. He ran an {{convert|880|yd|m|adj=on}} run on 28 May 1952 in 1:53.00, followed by a 4:10.6-mile time-trial on 7 June,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://trackfield.brinkster.net/Profile.asp?ID=348&Gender=M|title=Track and Field Statistics – Roger Bannister|website=trackfield.brinkster.net|publisher=Track and Field Statistics|access-date=6 March 2018}}</ref> proclaiming himself satisfied with the results. At the [[Amateur Athletic Association|AAA]] championships, he skipped the mile and won the 880 in 1:51.5.<ref name=":6" /> Then, 10&nbsp;days before the Olympic final, he ran a {{frac|3|4}} mile time trial in 2:52.9,<ref name=":6" /> which gave him confidence that he was ready for the Olympics as he considered the time to be the equivalent of a four-minute mile.

His confidence soon dissipated, however, as it was announced there would be semi-finals for the 1500 m at the Olympics,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6" /> which he felt favoured runners who had much deeper training regimens than he did. When he ran his semi-final, Bannister finished fifth and thereby qualified for the final, but he felt "blown and unhappy".<ref name=":6"/>

The [[Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres|1500 m final]] on 26 July 1952 would prove to be one of the more dramatic in Olympic history.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1952/ATH/mens-1500-metres.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417171542/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1952/ATH/mens-1500-metres.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 April 2020|title=Athletics at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's 1,500 metres|website=sports-reference.com|access-date=6 March 2018}}</ref> The race was not decided until the final metres, [[Josy Barthel]] of [[Luxembourg]] prevailing in an Olympic-record 3:45.28 (3:45.1 by official hand-timing) with the next seven runners all under the old record.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /> Bannister finished fourth,<ref name=":0" /> out of the medals, but set a British record of 3:46.30 (3:46.0) in the process.