In June 1957 an American public health physician told his audience at a medical conference in New York that a stimulant drug such as amphetamine ('Benzedrine') might have enabled athletes to run the mile in less than four minutes, a feat first achieved in 1954 by Roger Bannister, who stated in 1957 that he had never heard of the use of stimulants by runners. The initial wave of denials and protests by athletes and sports officials was followed by a series of revelations about the use of such 'pep pills' by some elite athletes of this era. This short-lived controversy serves as an introduction to how the concept of doping developed during the 1950s. Ambivalence about the propriety of athletic doping at this time was exemplified by the provocative statements of the British sports physician Adolphe Abrahams, who combined concern about the medical effects of doping drugs with an open mind towards their use for the purpose of breaking records.