Zero-Minute Mile

Zero-Minute Mile

Appeared in the October 23, 2009 edition of The Cabinet

Citius, Altius, Fortius. The Olympic motto of “Faster, Higher, Stronger” has inspired athletes for generations to surpass the standards of physical capacity not only by themselves and their opponents, but to exceed the performances of their sport’s predecessors. The history books expound the stories of winners from year to year, but they also make particular mention of those who have achieved feats that no one had ever seen before.

Each sport has its own unique set of records: John Wooden’s 10 NCAA National Championships, Usain Bolt’s time of 9.58 seconds in the 100 meter dash, Lance Armstrong’s seven Tour de France titles, and Michael Phelps’, well, every event that he’s ever competed in. 

Our obsession with record holders can be traced back to the late 1940s and early 1950s when athletes around the world were jockeying to become the first to break the barrier of running the four-minute mile. Many contended that this four-minute mile business was beyond the limits of human capacity, but that didn’t keep ambitious harriers from chasing fame while running themselves into oblivion.

In 1954, medical student Roger Bannister of England became the first to achieve the milestone. With the mountainous feat now in tow, track and field’s illustrious “Four-Minute Club” began to grow. John Landy and Bannister became the first to run sub-four-minute miles in the same race in the 1954 “Mile of the Century”. In 1961, Jim Ryun became the first high schooler to duck under the four- minute mark. To date, over 1000 men have run under four minutes for one mile, with the world record standing at a formidable 3:43.13 by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco.

Many more are probably familiar with Jamaica native Usain Bolt’s jaw-dropping performances at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and 2009 World Track and Field Championships in Berlin. In case you haven’t heard, Bolt has revolutionized the art of sprinting by posting times comparable to cheetahs, greyhounds, and the Energizer Bunny.

Looking beyond just track and field, athletes across the board, both male and female are running faster, jumping higher and lifting more. With the insurgence of and demand for progress, where will it stop? If a guy can jump over a car today, what will it be tomorrow? A pickup? Semi? Power line?

Graphs would show that in many cases, achievement seems to curve toward an invisible line that is approached, but never touched – an asymptote. But my question still remains unanswered: Assuming this hypothetical asymptote is real, where does it exist? At what point do the physical properties of muscle and bone make it impossible for the mind to push the body any farther?

The answers to these questions have major implications for our society as well. Can our technologically driven society endlessly make progress into the wild blue yonder, or is there some point at which we’ve learned everything we can possibly know? What happens if and when we do reach that figurative roof of knowledge?

I am certainly no philosopher; I would barely consider myself having a great deal of expertise in the areas of either sports or writing. I just want to know if the idea of humans scaling buildings in a single bound is closer to reality than we may think, or if the pinnacle of human achievement in athletics is capitulated in Usain Bolt’s time of 9.58. I guess we’ll never know if we don’t keep trying. To infinity – and beyond!