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Sir John Walker, KNZM, CBE, (born January 12, 1952 in Papakura) is a former middle distance runner from New Zealand.
Walker is best known for being the first human being to run the mile in under 3:50 minutes, posting a time of 3:49.4, breaking the existing world record by over 1.5 seconds. This was a full 10 seconds faster than Roger Bannister's historic sub-Four-Minute Mile of 3:59.4 that was run twenty-one years previous. He was named Athlete of the Year by Track and Field News the same year.
The following year, 1976, Walker won the Olympic Games 1500 metres in Montreal, with a time of 3:39.17. Walker also broke the world record for the 2000 metres, running 4:51.4 minutes in Oslo, Norway, on 30 June 1976. He smashed the existing ten-year-old record held by Michel Jazy by nearly five seconds, Walker regarded this run as the best he ever ran. Steve Cram would not better Walker's record by running 4:51.4 at Budapest, Hungary until 4 August 1985. Indoors, Walker broke the 1500 metre world record with a time of 3:37.4 in 1979. (Full article...)