LONDON (Reuters) - Roger Bannister, who has died aged 88, will live forever in the annals of athletics history as the first man to run a mile in under four minutes.

A statement from his family on Sunday said: Sir Roger Bannister, died peacefully in Oxford on 3 March, aged 88, surrounded by his family who were as loved by him, as he was loved by them. ... He banked his treasure in the hearts of his friends.

British Prime Minister Theresa May led the tributes to the former athlete, who later became one of Europes leading neurologists and was made a knight.

Sir Roger Bannister was a great British sporting icon whose achievements were an inspiration to us all. He will be greatly missed, she said on Twitter.

The record-breaking run was on the Oxford University track during a local athletics meeting with only a few spectators witnessing the Englishmans destruction of the myth that no human being could run so fast.

Bannister made headlines around the world at the age of 25. His achievement opened the physical and psychological door for many other milers who have since beaten his time of three minutes 59.4 seconds.

Roger Gilbert Bannister, born in Harrow, a London suburb, on March 23, 1929, was a shy, gangling medical student who preferred to be an oarsman rather than a runner.

In 1946, when he went to Oxford, his great ambition was to row against Cambridge in the annual boat race on the Thames.

But Bannister, who stood 1.8 meters tall and weighed only 68 kilograms, was told he was too light to make a first-rate oarsman.

So he turned to running and his new ambition became to win the 1,500 meters at the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952.