page_title: 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
section_title: Medal table
hierarchical_section_title: 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games / Medal table
caption_attribution_description: English: Statue in Vancouver, British Columbia of John Landy of Australia and Roger Bannister of England. On 7 August, at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Bannister competed against Landy for the first time in a race billed as "The Miracle Mile". They were the only two men in the world to have broken the 4-minute barrier, with Landy still holding the world record. Landy looked over his left shoulder to gauge Bannister's position and Bannister burst past him on the right; Bannister won in 3 min 58.8 s, with Landy 0.8 s behind in 3 min 59.6 s. A larger-than-life bronze sculpture of the two men at this moment was created by Vancouver sculptor Jack Harman in 1967 from a photograph by Vancouver Sun photographer Charlie Warner and stood for many years at the entrance to Empire Stadium; after the stadium was demolished the sculpture was moved a short distance away to the Hastings and Renfrew entrance of the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) fairgrounds. Regarding this sculpture, Landy quipped that "While Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back, I am probably the only one ever turned into bronze for looking back."
context_page_description: The 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from 30 July to 7 August 1954. These were the first games since the name change from British Empire Games took effect in 1952.
  It was at these games that the "Miracle Mile" took place between Roger Bannister and John Landy at Empire Stadium. This was the first time these two sub-four-minute mile runners appeared in the same race, and also the first time two runners broke four minutes in the same race. On the same afternoon, Jim Peters, the holder of the world best time for the marathon, entered the stadium 17 minutes ahead of his nearest rival, but collapsed on his final lap, and never completed the race.
  The games were attended by 24 nations and 662 competitors.
context_section_description:  Host nation (Canada)
caption: Statue in Vancouver commemorating the "Miracle Mile" between Roger Bannister and John Landy
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