The 'Mighty Atom', inspiration of Bannister

The unlikely running champion who inspired Roger Bannister and many other greats, Sydney Wooderson, MBE, died over the holiday period aged 91.

Wooderson, who stood 5ft 6 and weighed under 9 stone, was born in 1914 and ran 4:30 for the mile when still a schoolboy, going on to set a world mile record of 4:6.4 in 1938, and world records at 800m and 880 yards in a career spoilt by injury and war.

Steven Downes writes in the Independent:

"If someone were to point out Sydney Wooderson to you on the running track and tell you he was the athlete who had run a mile more quickly than any other human being, you just wouldn't believe it.

"On weekdays, Wooderson looked like the epitome of the suburban commuter of the era, a short, slightly built solicitor's clerk, hair Brylcreemed back, short-sighted eyes peering out through thick, horn-rimmed glasses, 'looking as if he had been mugged for his ration book', as one biographer wrote.

"Yet come the weekend, and stripped down to his Blackheath Harriers club vest and stepping on to a cinder running track, there was a transformation. Perhaps not quite of Superman proportions, for Wooderson's skinny white legs still stuck out incongruously from his baggy all-black kit. But once the race started, he was a ruthless competitor, dubbed 'The Mighty Atom', who managed to win European titles either side of the Second World War as well as setting world records for the mile, 800 metres and 880 yards, the latter with a time, 1:49.2sec, that would remain unbeaten for 17 years.

"The running career of Sydney Wooderson will also be remembered as one that was denied by the circumstances of his time, as well as the frailties of his body.

"He missed his only chance of Olympic glory in 1936 through an ankle injury that might have ended his running career. The 1500m gold medal in those Berlin Games was won by the London-based New Zealander Jack Lovelock. Before the Games, and his injury, Wooderson had beaten Lovelock repeatedly. In 1937, Wooderson ran the mile in 4:6.4, faster than Lovelock and any other man had ever managed.

"Wooderson missed the 1938 Empire Games because he had to sit his law exams. War broke out when he was just 25 and might have been considered close to his peak as a middle-distance runner. The 1940 and 1944 Olympics were cancelled."

Read the full story on the Independent website here.