Manu Joseph: the frequently told story about the power of self-belief is mostly hogwash

The more mainstream race than the mile run was the 1,500m one. A mile is just over 1,600m. In 1944, the 1,500m world record was 3:43, held by the Swede Gunder Hägg. At that pace, he would have run a mile in about 3:58, if he had been made to run just another 109m. Yet, for a decade, near hysterical hype grew around the four-minute-mile barrier.