Birthday: 01/07/33 Mile PR: 4:45.00 - 1955 (former world best)
Metric Mile (1500m) PR: 4:22.2 – 1955
Hometown: Streetly, Staffordshire, England
College: University of Birmingham
On May 29, 1954 during the Midland Championships in Birmingham, England, Diane Leather became the first woman to break the 5 minute Mile barrier with a time of 4:59.6 finishing well before any of her competitors. At the time she was a 21-year-old analytical chemist at the University of Birmingham. Because the IAAF did not keep records above 800 meters for women at that time, she was only acknowledged with a world’s best time; not a world record. She had competed in the 800 meters earlier that afternoon.
Over the next year, she dropped her Mile "best" to 4:45.0 – a time that stood for seven years.
Leather had only been training for two years when she went sub-5. During her career she had won five WAAA titles between 1954 & 1957 and she also won 4 consecutive national cross country titles (1953-56) as well as three International Cross Country Championships crowns, 1954-55 and 1957. In 1954 & 1958, Diane earned silver medals at the European Championships in the 800 meters.
She was an Olympian in Rome 1960, competing in the 800 meters as Mrs. Diane Charles.
Leather, who was trained as a micro-analyst at chemistry, later became a social worker in London and Cornwall. The legend & pioneer passed away on September 5, 2018.
FUN FACT: Diane was a field hockey player before she became a dedicated runner.
FUN FACT II: She was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame in October 2013.
Legend, 1960 Olympian & record setter a pioneer of women’s running
By Peter Thompson
The world of Athletics is deeply saddened by the news that Diane Leather Charles, the first woman to run a Mile in under 5 minutes and a true running pioneer, passed peacefully on Wednesday, September 5. As...
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By Peter Thompson
This article has been published in its entirety with the author's permission. It was initially published in the 'BMC News', the Club magazine of the British Milers' Club, in Spring 2014.
Many of you reading this blog are aware of the the 60th anniversary of breaking the 4...
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Leather’s run was not recognized as a world record, only a world’s best, because the IAAF did not keep records above 800m for women. And that is a story in itself.
By Sean Ingle, The Guardian
Sixty years ago this May, on a crushed cinder track in the Midlands, an athlete ran into history by...
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The barrier breaker looks back on her historic sub-five Mile of 60 years ago
May 6, 1954, might be a date forever etched in history, but just 23 days after Roger Bannister’s barrier-breaking sub-four-minute Mile, a woman made a similar breakthrough.
However, whereas Bannister’s achievement is...
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