The Times obits reports the death of another barrier breaker. Like the 4 minute mile, the 60 foot shot put and the 16 (I think) foot pole vault were athletic barriers when I was growing up. O'Brien broke the second right after Bannister broke the first, proving that the "barriers" had no more reality than the sound barrier (which Chuck Yeager had broken earlier).
Now, I guess, rather than seeing "barriers" we see statistical distributions. Such thinking doesn't allow for or create individual heroes to the extent that Bannister and O'Brien were. I'm sure it's more realistic, but I'll be an old fogey and mourn the loss of heroism for a minute.
(There, now I'm over it.)
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