tour de force
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I rushed out to buy this book after enjoying the BBC television film aboutthe momentous race and agree with Mr Wooldridge that it is a a tour deforce of elegant sports writing. To those who do not know this is a bookabout the first mile run in below four minutes. It is written by a man ofequivocal Cary Grant good looks who has the dashing esprit de corps of theheroes of Chariots of Fire. Mr Bryant was himself, as he points outmodestly, a runner of feline elegance. He was not in the same super leagueas the heroes of whom he writes. Poetic he is however. His words dance andjig like atheletes running. He writes with authority as a man who hashimself pushed his feeble body to the limits and beyond. Reading this bookmade me wonder if Mr Bryant himself had it in him to be an Immortal. No isthe answer. As he himself says he had a long rangy style of running. Hesays with daring honesty and not a little brio that he did not have therequisite "inner strength" and was "a weakling" by comparison to Bannisterand Chataway. But this magnificent book is an ample memorial. He should beproud of it!
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