Fifty years later, Roger Bannister’s breaking of the four-minute mile barrier is still lauded.

OXFORD, England (AP) – When Roger Bannister threw himself across the finish line 50 years ago – head back, mouth agape – he did much more than break the four-minute mile.

His achievement transcended sports. He accomplished what many people thought was impossible.

Now a lanky 75-year-old grandfather with rosy cheeks and a wisp of white hair, Bannister returned to the track at Oxford’s Iffley Road on Thursday in honor of the anniversary of his unforgettable run on May 6, 1954.

With guards wearing bowler hats and music by Handel piped over the loudspeakers – a throwback to another era – the retired neurologist spoke modestly of his record time of 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds.

“I never thought fame was particularly helpful or healthy as an experience because I knew that it was frail,” Bannister said. “I always knew that running was a very small part of me.”

“None of my athletics was the greatest achievement. My medical work has been my achievement and my family with 14 grandchildren. Those are real achievements.”

About 1,500 fans came to see Bannister, about the same turnout 50 years ago at the track. Slightly stooped, he smiled and waved as he awarded commemorative coins to the winners.

Lynn Davies, the president of UK Athletics and a 1964 Olympic gold medalist in the long jump, put the moment into perspective.

“What he did was equal with Mount Everest, or the first man on the moon,” Davies said. “It’s on a par in that everyone in the world knew about it, and everyone still knows about it.”

Thursday was breezy and sunny. Fifty years ago it was cold and wet with the wind dying down as Bannister raced. The tattered English flag fluttering atop the church across the road was the same one caught in historic photos.

Australian 5,000-meter specialist Craig Mottram won the “elite mile” race in 3:56.64. It was barely faster than Bannister’s time, though it was his first of the season and not even his specialty.

“I would have been delighted to run in weather of this kind,” said Bannister, who was knighted in 1975, the same year a car accident left him with a limp.

Fascination endures with the four-minute mile – four laps, one minute per lap.

“It still seems strange to me that the intrinsically simple and unimportant act of placing one foot in front of the other as fast as possible for 1,760 yards was heralded as such an important athletic achievement,” Bannister wrote in his book. “The First Four Minutes.”

Bannister was the favorite in the 1,500 meters entering the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. He hoped to win gold and retire to pursue his medical career.

Instead, he finished fourth – exhausted when Olympic officials inserted an extra round of heats. So he shelved retirement to pursue a record chased by many, including Wes Santee of the United States and John Landy of Australia.

“I was ready to retire had I won the medal,” he said Thursday. “But I felt so disappointed that I simply had to go on another two years trying to justify the methods and ideas that I had.”

Bannister chose the first meet of the 54 season – Oxford vs. the Amateur Athletic Association – to attempt the record with Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway as pacemakers. After going through the first three laps in 3:00.5, Bannister ran the final lap in 59 seconds to break the mark.

The Daily Mail reported the next day: “Britain’s Jolly Roger Bannister has done it.”

Bannister figures about 2,000 runners have broken four minutes since he did- Steve Scott of the United States 137 times, John Walker of New Zealand 128. The record is 3:43.13 by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco, set in 1999. Bannister, No. 41 pinned on his jersey, was asked his reaction as he broke the tape that day.

“There was no pain anywhere in particular,” he recalled. “I made an effort to throw myself over the line. As far as I was concerned, life barely existed after that moment.”

AP-ES-05-06-04 1641EDT