By Ian Chadband BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) - Roger Bannister's death at the age of 88 prompted a host of emotional tributes to athletics' great barrier breaker on Sunday with the sport's senior figure, Sebastian Coe, saluting him as the "man who made the impossible possible". Coe and Steve Cram, who followed in the spike tracks of the sport's first sub-four minute miler to also become world beaters, emphasized that, while Bannister had been their running hero, he meant so much more to the life of his home nation. Cram, who broke the mile world record in 1985, told Reuters in Birmingham: "Bannister really started off that great British tradition of great middle-distance runners which people like Seb (Coe), Steve (Ovett) and myself were able to continue.