Portal:Scotland/Selected article/Week 49, 2012



Eric Henry Liddell 16 January 1902 – 21 February 1945) was a Scottish athlete, rugby union international player, and missionary. Liddell was the winner of the men's 400 metres at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. Liddell's Olympic training and racing, and the religious convictions that influenced him, are depicted in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. Often called the "Flying Scotsman" after the record breaking locomotive, he was born in Tianjin (Tientsin) in North China, the second son of the Rev. and Mrs. James Dunlop Liddell, who were Scottish missionaries with the London Missionary Society. He attended school in China until the age of five. At the age of six, he and his brother Robert, eight years old, were enrolled in Eltham College, Mottingham, a boarding school in England for the sons of missionaries. At Eltham, Liddell was an outstanding sportsman, being awarded the Blackheath Cup as the best athlete of his year, playing for the First XI and the First XV by the age of 15, later becoming captain of both the cricket and rugby union teams. After moving to study at the University of Edinburgh he gained a place in the backline of a strong Scottish national rugby union team. In 1922 and 1923, he played in seven out of eight Five Nations matches along with A. L. Gracie. In 1923 he won the AAA Championships in athletics in the 100 (setting a British record of 9.7 seconds that would not be broken for 35 years) and 220 yards (21.6 seconds).

The 1924 Olympics were hosted by the city of Paris. A devout Christian, Liddell refused to run in a heat held on Sunday (the Christian Sabbath) and was forced to withdraw from the 100-metres race, his best event. The schedule had been published several months earlier, and his decision was made well before the Games. Liddell spent the intervening months training for the 400 metres. On the day of the Olympic 400 metres race, Liddell went to the starting blocks, where an American Olympic Team masseur slipped a piece of paper into his hand with a quotation from 1 Samuel 2:30: "Those who honor me I will honor." The pipe band of the 51st Highland Brigade played outside the stadium for the hour before he ran. Inspired by this and the Biblical message, and deprived of a view of the other runners because he drew the outside lane, Liddell raced the whole of the first 200 metres to be well clear of the favoured Americans. With little option but to then treat the race as a complete sprint, he continued to race round the final bend. He was challenged all the way down the home straight but held on to take the win. He broke the existing Olympic and world records with a time of 47.6 seconds. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree after the Paris Olympiad in 1924.