Media Room
Press ReleasesApril 6, 2004
Steve Scott: A Place In Mile History
There was a time when running one mile in under four minutes was considered impossible.
Once first accomplished in 1954 by Roger Bannister, it remained an unusual feat for many years even among talented athletes. When running became a popular pastime in the 1980s the notion of running a single four-minute-mile achieved a kind of mystical and unattainable status for the majority of folks for whom a nine or 10-minute mile pace was the more realistic goal as they set upon road and track for fun and fitness.
American runner Steve Scott remains the Master of the Four-Minute Mile, having run under the four-minute mark an astounding 136 times -- more than any other athlete.
Scott also remains one of the greatest milers to ever compete for the United States, carrying on the tradition of miling excellence exemplified bycompatriot Jim Ryun when he set world mile marks of 3:51.3 then 3:51.1 in 1966 and 1967, and continued by Marty Liquori and Rick Wolhuter.
In 1977 Scott ran his first sub-four-minute mile (3:59.7) and a year later he won the NCAA 1,500-metre title and appeared poised to challenge a bevy of international calibre milers, including Filbert Bayi, Steve Ovett, Steve Cram and Sebastian Coe, at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. But a U.S. boycott of those Games left Scott out of sight by not out of mind.
Scott continued to "rack up the miles."
By 1982 Scott had improved his mile best time to 3:49.68 and he opened his 1982 European campaign in Oslo with an impressive 3:48.53 for an American record. Later, at the Oslo Games, he ran a 3:47.69 to become the second fastest miler in history behind world record holder Coe - that time remains an American record today.
In 1983 Scott took the silver medal behind winner Steve Cram in the 1,500 metres at the inaugural World Track and Field Championships in Helsinki and ended the year ranked second in the world. He went on to finish 10th and fifth over the distance at the 1984 and '88 Summer Olympics.
In all, he won six American men's 1,500-metre titles, the U.S. indoor mile title on four occasions and was 11 times ranked in the world's top 10 by Track and Field News.In 2002 Scott was inducted into United States National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
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