It's been 10 years since the current world record for running the mile was set - so why hasn't it been broken? Does the mile still matter as a middle-distance event, and who runs it these days?A decade ago, Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj broke the record for running the mile by clocking in at three minutes and 43 seconds. El Guerrouj, often called the King of the Mile, was the second north African in a row to take this coveted title. But for years, this had been a distance held most dear by those in the English-speaking world.
Roger Bannister, the first man to break the four-minute mile, in 1954, is still a household name in Britain. And by the early 1980s, a trio of British runners battled each other to break, and break again, the world record for running a mile.
Between 1979 and 1985, British middle-distance legends Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram traded the world record title between each other six times - at one point Coe ran away with the title just two days after Ovett had earned it. Ultimately Cram secured the record for several years, at three minutes and 46 seconds.
But a glance at the record books reveals that since then there have been just two world-beating times. El Guerrouj's record in 1999 has stood for longer than any other mile record since 1913 - when the International Association of Athletics Federations began keeping pace.
So what's happened since? Have times got so tight it's becoming ever more difficult to be a world beater, or has the mile simply fallen out of favour among the world's top runners?
One expert firmly believes it's the latter. "The mile has been devalued, there's no doubt about it," says John Bale, a professor at Keele University and author of Roger Bannister and the Four-Minute Mile. "There's no gossip that 'so and so' or 'so and so' is getting close to the record. It's kind of static in a way."
Bannister, now Sir Roger, concurs. "It's not as serious as it was before the four-minute mile had been done," he tells the BBC News Magazine.
The modern mile, of 1,760 yards, is based on the Roman mile of 1,000 paces. Runners have been tackling it since at least the mid-1800s and by the turn of the century the public's growing appetite for speed and scientific advancement spurred runners on to ever faster times, says Mr Bale.
Interest began to intensify even more in the 1940s as a succession of Swedish runners began to narrow down the world record close to four minutes.
Bannister's three minutes and 59 seconds, in 1954, on a cinder running track, generated global interest and 10 subsequent record times were set over the following 20 or so years.
But those looking for an early turning point in the fortunes of the competitive mile will surely find it in the rule changes to international athletics in the 1970s. Imperial distances, with the exception of the mile, were banned as metric established track-and-field supremacy.
"As Britain's influence in the world has declined, the interest in a British sport based on a British system of measurement has also declined," says Jeffrey Hill, a sports historian and professor at De Montfort University in Leicester. For many mid-distance runners, the new goal is to beat the record for the 1,500-metre race. Today, the mile is still run at several events around the world, but it's simply not as relevant as it once was, he says.
"It's almost like a fossil," Mr Bale says. "It's there but doesn't actually do anything."
But could another explanation for the 10-year-old world record simply be that margins are becoming ever tighter. After all, the men's record for the 1,500 metres, which is just 109 metres shorter than the mile, has been held even longer - since 1998. The time will come when the physical restrictions of the human body will keep the record from broken again.
"Maybe we are reaching that point," says Mr Hill. "You couldn't run a mile in a minute. Not yet anyway." Sir Roger Bannister claims to be "philosophical" about the shift to metric. "I move with the times," he says. But that doesn't mean the record breaking is over just yet. I'm sure it will be broken and it's likely to be broken by a Moroccan, a Kenyan or an Ethiopian.
Peter Matthews, editor of The International Track and Field Annual, also isn't about to write off the mile as an important test of an athlete's ability.
While it isn't part of the Olympics or the World Championships in Athletics - several modern races still include the distance, mostly notably the prestigious Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway, held earlier this month. For Mr Matthews the delay in a new record time is down to technology. Sports like swimming have seen new technology help propel competitors to ever faster times. But running aids have changed little in recent years.
He expects that the greatest athletes will continue to run one or two mile-long races per year to keep their times consistent. Ultimately, it takes someone special to break a long-standing record. "Records are only set by exceptional people at exceptional times," Mr Matthews says.
For now, perhaps no-one is quite exceptional enough to fill El Guerrouj's running shoes.
[Thanks BBC]
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