Running for God
In the 1981 Academy Award-winning film Chariots of Fire, Scottish track star Eric Liddell [pronounced liddle, as in fiddle], a devout Christian, refused to compete in a 100 meter qualifying heat scheduled for a Sunday at the 1924 Paris Olympics.
A teammate would swap his 400 meter slot with Liddell, and Liddell, known as “the Flying Scotsman,” would go on to win the gold in record-breaking time.
The movie ended there, with a graphic stating that he then had a career as a missionary in China.
Liddell had been born in Tietsin in North China to Protestant missionary parents. At the age of five, he, along with his older brother, was sent to England for schooling, and in due course he attended the University of Edinburgh. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree the year following the Olympics, he began his life’s work as a missionary teacher in the north of China.
In 1943, Japanese forces occupied the rural mission station in Shaochang where he was working, and he was interned at the Weihsien Internment Camp in Weifang. Death came early to him: he died of a brain tumor in February 1945.
During his time as a track star, he had said, “I believe that God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. When I run, I feel His pleasure.”
His chief competition in the ‘24 Olympics was another fleet-footed runner, Harold Abrahams, who wasn’t quite the Jewish outsider as portrayed in the film.
He was the younger brother of Olympic long jumper Sir Sidney Abrahams and Sir Adolphe Abrahams, a gastroenterologist, considered the founder of British sports medicine.
Harold Abrahams was a long jumper as well as a sprinter. Prior to the ‘24 Olympics, he had set the English record in the long jump (24 feet, 2-1/2 inches).
It was Liddell who introduced Abrahams to professional coach Scipio Africanus “Sam” Mussabini. With Mussabini’s coaching, Abrahams went on to win the 100 meter dash, the center-of-attraction race in Chariots of Fire.
Arthur Porritt finished third in that event, which took place at 7 p.m. on July 7, 1924. (July, remember, is the 7th month.) The two would dine together at 7 p.m. on July 7th every year until Abrahams death 53 years later.
Mussabini had said to Abrahams: “Only think of two things: the gun and the tape. When you hear the one, just run like hell until you break the other.”
Abrahams studied law after the ‘24 Games, but spent the greater part of his adult life as a sports broadcaster. He was the timekeeper on May 6, 1954, when Roger Bannister ran the first sub-4 minute mile — 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.
Abrahams ran for glory, which is fine. But how I admire Eric Liddell, who ran for the glory of God…and died in His service!
Roy Hanu Hart, M.D.