Diane Leather

Diane Susan Leather Charles, née Leather, (7 January 19335 September 2018) was an English athlete who was the first woman to run a sub-5-minute mile. Inspired to take up running aged 19 after watching the 1952 Olympic Games, within months Leather had become national cross-country champion, a title she would go on to win four times. On the track, she first came to prominence as part of a team that broke the world record for the 3 x relay.

Then on only her second attempt at running the mile, she broke the world record. The following year, having lost the record to Romanian athlete Edith Treybal, she reclaimed the record in a time of 5:00.2, then in the same week lowered it to 4:59.6, the first woman ever to break five minutes. Leather broke the record five times in total, taking it to 4:45 by the end of 1955, a mark which stood until 1962. During her career Leather also achieved world bests at 800 metres, 880 yards and 1500 metres.

Leather's record in major championships was hampered by the lack of events available to women. There were no women's events over 200 m in the Olympic Games between 1928 and 1960, and the 1500 m was not introduced to the women's programme until 1972. Leather represented Great Britain in the European Athletics Championships in 1954 and 1958. She won silver in the 800m on both occasions.

By the time the 800m was introduced to the Olympics in 1960, Leather, by then known as Diane Charles through marriage, was no longer British number one, and was eliminated in the heats.