The Man Who Wouldn’t Run on a Sunday: Eric Liddell in the SOAS Archives | Brunei Gallery, SOAS, University of London The Man Who Wouldn’t Run on a Sunday: Eric Liddell in the SOAS Archives THIS EVENT IS ARCHIVED Date: 13 July 2012 Time: 10:00 AM Finishes: 22 September 2012 Time: 5:00 PM Venue: Brunei Gallery Room: Foyle Special Collections Gallery Type of Event: Exhibition Eric Liddell achieved fame as an Olympic athlete whose life is chronicled in the 1981 film, Chariots of Fire. Liddell’s spiritual convictions had a significant impact on his athletic career. As a member of the British Olympic Team for the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, he refused to run in the qualifying heats because they were held on a Sunday, with the consequence that he was forced to withdraw from his best event, the 100 metres race. He went on to win bronze and gold medals in the 200 and 400 metres events respectively, setting a world record for the 400 metres and causing sensational news headlines.

In 1925, at the peak of his athletic career, Liddell chose to join the London Missionary Society and went to serve in Northern China. The exhibition focuses on this lesser-known side of Eric Liddell’s life, and picks up on the fascinating story of what happened next as he chose to step out of the limelight of Olympic success. Drawing on documents found in the archive of the London Missionary Society, held by SOAS Library, the exhibition looks at Liddell’s family background (he was born in China to Scottish missionary parents), his personal motivation for becoming a missionary, his work as a teacher at the Anglo-Chinese College in Tientsin and his eventual imprisonment and premature death in a Japanese internment camp at Weihsien in 1945. Material on display will include photographs, application papers submitted to the London Missionary Society and his annual reports and correspondence back to the mission directors in London, which reflect on his work and life in the context of the Japanese occupation of China in the lead-up to and during the Second World War. It also includes letters and medical reports relating to his death at Weihsien Camp, and the impact this had on his family and colleagues.

A selection of the papers relating to Eric Liddell has been digitised as part of a project to commemorate his achievements in the context of the London 2012 Olympics. For further details, contact Archives & Special Collections staff on docenquiry@soas.ac.uk | tel: 020 7898 4180. Further information on the London Missionary Society archive and other archival collections held by SOAS Library can be found at The Eric Liddell papers are displayed with the kind permission of the Council for World Mission. Supported by Open: Tuesday - Saturday: 10.30 - 17.00 Late night Thursday until 20:00 Closed: Sundays, Mondays and Bank Holidays please check individual exhibition pages for changes to the standard times Recorded Information: +44 (0)20 7898 4046 Sacrifices made by religious athletes who refuse to compromise on their faith | Daily Mail Online comments Australian rugby league star Will Hopoate grabbed the headlines this year after it emerged that he has got it written into his Canterbury Bulldogs contract that he won't play or train on Sundays.

However the NRL star and devout Mormon is not the first religious athlete to put their faith before their sport. Daily Mail Australia takes a look at others down the years, from the world of baseball to boxing and even Olympic Games competitors, who have made big sacrifices in the name of religion. Amir Khan: The British boxer missed out on a big-money fight against Floyd Mayweather in 2014 because he is a Muslim and was observing Ramadan. Khan fasts for 17 hours for 30 consecutive days every year during the holy month and promoters claimed he would not have been able to do a proper training camp during July and then be ready to take on Mayweather in September. Scroll down for video Muslim boxer Amir Khan reportedly failed to land a big fight against Floyd Mayweather in 2014 as he was fasting during Ramadan in the build-up to the potential fight Michael Jones: The New Zealand rugby union player, a Christian, refused to play on Sundays due to his religious beliefs. It meant he missed three games during the 1991 World Cup and was then left out of the 1995 tournament when it became clear he would not be available for both the quarter-final and semi-final.

New Zealand rugby player Michael Jones was not selected for the All Blacks squad for the 1995 World Cup because he refused to play on Sundays Sandy Koufax: The Jewish baseball pitcher caused controversy in 1965 when he refused to play in the opening game of the World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in his religion. His team, the LA Dodgers, lost that game to the Minnesota Twins - but Koufax played in three of the other games to help them seal a 4-3 series victory. LA Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax refused to play against Minnesota Twins in the opening game of the 1965 World Series as it fell on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar Johnathan Edwards: The British triple jumper refused to compete on Sundays as a Christian and subsequently did not go for medals at the 1991 World Athletics Championships. Edwards changed his mind about strictly observing the Sabbath in 1993 and admitted he had lost his faith completely in 2007. Triple jumper Johnathan Edwards did not compete in the 1991 World Athletics Championships because his event was scheduled to take place on a Sunday.

He later admitted losing his Christian faith Sulley Muntari: The Ghanaian footballer was dramatically substituted after just 30 minutes while playing for Inter Milan against Bari in 2009. Manager Jose Mourinho later claimed Muntari was not fit enough to play, having fasted during the Muslim month of Ramadan. Inter Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari was substituted after just 30 minutes in a game against Bari in 2009, with manager Jose Mourinho claiming he was not fit due to fasting during Ramadan Eric Liddell: The Scottish athlete famously refused to run in the 100m at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris as the heats took place on a Sunday, with his Christian convictions immortalised in the movie Chariots Of Fire. Liddell did win 400m gold at the 1924 Games, but later became a missionary teacher in China.

Eric Liddell's decision not to run on Sundays, which ruled him out of the 100m event at the 1924 Olympic Games before he won gold in the 400m, was immortalised in the film Chariots Of Fire Chris Guider: The Australian rugby league player was just 24 when he quit the sport to study Scientology in 1986, even though he had been captain of the St George Dragons that season. In 2011, he accused the head of the Church of Scientology, David Miscavige, of being volent towards members - claims that were strongly refuted. Chris Guider played rugby league in Australia for St George Dragons (left), but in 1986 he quit the sport at the age of 24 to join the Church of Scientology (right) Hakeem Olajuwon: The NBA basketball star helped the Houston Rockets to back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995, despite the fact he strictly observed Ramadan and fasted for a whole month.

In 2008 the Rockets proposed a monument of him outside their stadium, but were forced to make a sculpture of his jersey instead as Olajuwon's Muslim faith forbade any statue bearing a likeness to be put up. NBA basketball legend Hakeen Olajuwon strictly observed the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and fasted for 30 consecutive days, but still won back-to-back championships with the Houston Rockets Euan Murray: The Scottish rugby union international announced in 2009 that as a Christian he would no longer play on Sundays. It meant he was not available for a crucial 2011 World Cup group game against Argentina which Scotland lost by a single point to miss out on a place in the quarter-finals. Devout Christian Euan Murray refused to play for Scotland in a crucial Rugby World Cup game against Argentina in 2011 as it was scheduled on a Sunday. Scotland lost the game by a single point Will Hopoate: The Australian-born rugby league player gave up two years of his career at the age of just 20 when he served a mission for the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

His Mormon religion means he now has it written into his Canterbury Bulldogs contract that he will not play or train on Sundays. Rugby league star Will Hopoate is also a Mormon who missed out on two years in the NRL when he served a mission. He now has it written into his Canterbury Bulldogs contract that he will not play on a Sunday Tim Tebow: The American was famous in college football for painting the numbers of biblical verses underneath his eyes until 2010 when the NCAA banned messages on eye paint, which became known as "The Tebow Rule". Despite his strong Christian faith, Tebow never had a problem playing on Sundays in the NFL. Tim Tebow (number 15 in centre), was banned from painting the numbers of bible verses under his eyes while playing college football after the NCAA introduced what was known as the "Tim Tebow Rule" in 2010 Eric Liddell's decision not to run on a Sunday Sunday 13 July When Eric became aware of this he made it perfectly clear that he would take no part in any events scheduled for the Lord’s day, the Christian Sabbath. As far as he was concerned, that was a day of rest and worship in terms of the Fourth Commandment.

It was, for him, not a day for recreation or work, apart from such works as were of necessity or mercy. The theology of the Lord’s day as Christian Sabbath to which Eric Liddell subscribed held that the Sabbath principle was preserved though the day was changed from the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week. Most evangelical Christians held that the change of day was necessitated by three things: first, commemoration of the resurrection of Christ on the first day of the week; second, the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost on the first day of the week, seven weeks after the resurrection; and, third, New Testament precedents. The terms ‘Lord’s day’ to describe the Christian Sabbath derives from Revelation 1;10. Naturally, the argument that the Sabbath principle continued rested on the principle that the Ten Commandments contained permanent spiritual and moral precepts which in their very nature could not be abrogated. At any rate, Eric made his position clear – he would not run in any events scheduled for a Sunday. As his friend D P Thomson put it later, ‘That decision there was no hope of changing. It was based on principles from which he never deviated a hair’s breadth.

Even in the Weihsien Internment Camp, where he was in charge of all sports and athletics, he refused to be responsible for planning Sunday sports.’ There has been a debate about whether or not the British Olympic authorities appealed to the International Olympic Committee to reschedule some events. It was clear that Eric, for one, would also not be available for either the 4 x 100metres or 4 x 400 metres relay races, heats or finals of which were also scheduled for Sundays. This would seriously affect Great Britain’s prospects, and might make the difference in the colours of medals won. A personal note which I received from David A Jamieson contained the following statements: ‘It was suggested to Liddell that the Continental Sabbath finished at midday; he replied that “His Sunday lasted all day”! Efforts were made by the British Olympic Council to persuade the Olympic Committee in Paris but they were of no avail’.

It seems the British Olympic Council towards the end of 1923 did appeal to the International Olympic Committee that ‘Athletes who object to running or taking part in any Game on Sunday, be given a chance to have their race or event arranged on another day.’ In a reply dated 22 January 1924, the IOC indicated that they were not prepared to ask any other committee, or the host country, to make such changes at that point. This may not have been attempted only on behalf of Eric Liddell, but the strong likelihood is that it was the case of Eric Liddell that was the motivation for the approach. There is irony in this matter of Eric Liddell’s refusal to run in the events scheduled for Sundays. His widow Florence later recalled that ‘Eric always said that the great thing for him was that when he stood by his principles and refused to run in the 100 metres, he found that the 400 metres was really his race. He said he would never have known that otherwise.

He would never have dreamed of trying the 400 at the Olympics.’ In order to make preparation to ‘run the distance’ over 400 metres, Eric forsook rugby in the winter of 1923 -24. He also had his university work to do as he entered his finals year. At the very least, avoiding rugby meant that he would not run the threat of injury, always present in that game. No, he would quietly prepare for the Olympic 400 metres, under the watchful eye of Tom McKerchar. Running the Race - Eric Liddell, Olympic Champion and Missionary. ISBN 13 978 0 85234 780 5 This material is copyright John W Keddie and used with his permission. Footnote: Other Scottish sports people have followed suit over the years - the most notable example being current Scotland rugby union player Euan Murray. Chariots of Fire to Run Again - Tam's Tall Tales Tam's Tall Tales - Chariots of Fire to Run Again Eric Liddell in the relay race at the British Empire v USA meet held at Stamford Bridge, London 1924. Graphic via Wikimedia Commons" .

New Eric Liddell Movie On Stocks Joseph Fiennes will play the part of Scottish athlete Eric Liddell in 'The Last Race - currently being made in China. The story about the devout athlete who refused to run on a Sunday in the 1924 Olympic Games was the subject of Chariots of Fire which starred Ian Charleson, Ben Cross, John Gielgud and myself. ( I was an extra whose contribution cruelly ended up on the cutting room floor). There is some controversy amongst the religious community, that Liddell's strong Christian beliefs will be airbrushed from the picture. His niece and Liddell family spokeswoman, Sue Liddell Caton, said: "Without the Christian element in him, it just doesn't sound like Eric Liddell. "I would find it strange if there was no reference to Christianity. His whole life was based on the Christian belief - certainly when he went back to China." Eric Liddell was born in China in 1902 to Christian missionaries James Dunlop Liddell and his wife Mary, originally from Drymen and Greenock.

He won Olympic gold in the 400m in Paris in 1924 but refused to take part in the 100m because he would not run on the Sabbath. He returned to China to become a missionary and continued his work after Japan invaded in 1937. In 1943 he was held in an internment camp with about 2000 other Westerners in Weifang. Liddell gave up his place in a prisoner swap for a pregnant woman and died in the camp of a brain tumour just before the war ended. The graphic here is © "Rolfmueller" via Wikimedia Commons Please give me whatever feedback comes to mind via tamfromrampant@gmail.com .

Tam O'Ranter Chariots of Fire's Eric Liddell is Chinese 'hero' - BBC News BBC News Chariots of Fire's Eric Liddell is Chinese 'hero' By Glenn Campbell Political correspondent, BBC Scotland 22 July 2012 Close share panel Media captionA memorial stone stands in the grounds of the prisoner camp where Liddell died The story of Scottish athlete Eric Liddell - a devout Christian who refused to take part in an Olympic race because it took place on a Sunday - became famous after being told in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire. But almost a century later, why is the athlete regarded as a hero in China? In the corner of a quiet Chinese courtyard, 5,000 miles from Scotland, stands a memorial in Isle of Mull granite. The stone commemorates Eric Liddell - one of Scotland's greatest Olympians - who is buried nearby. The stone was gifted by Edinburgh University after a Scottish engineer, Charles Walker, rediscovered his grave in the Chinese city of Weifang.

Image caption Eric Liddell won a gold medal at the 1924 Olympics in Paris Liddell, the son of Christian missionaries, had been born in China in 1902 and lived there until he was five when he returned to Britain to be educated. While he was at Edinburgh University, Liddell excelled at athletics and also played rugby for the Scottish national team - as well as being a noted evangelist preacher. At the 1924 Olympics in Paris, he famously refused to run on a Sunday, ruling him out of the 100 metres race to which he was best suited. Instead, he took part in the 400 metres race and, against the odds, still won a gold medal. Soon after his Olympic triumph, Liddell finished his studies and returned to China to become a missionary. As well as religious duties, he worked as a science and sports teacher at the Anglo/Chinese College in Tianjin. After the Japanese invasion in 1937, Liddell carried on his missionary work even when it became dangerous to do so. Liddell's wife and children left China for Canada in 1941 but he stayed to help in any way he could.

In 1943 he was interned at Weifang and he died of a brain tumour just months before the end of World War II, at the age of 43. Image caption Liddell's achievements are taught at the school on the site of the prison camp The prisoner-of-war camp which held about 2,000 Westerners is now a place of learning for 2,000 Chinese teenagers. Every new pupil at the school is taught about the camp and Eric Liddell's achievements on and off the track "This part of history is a great treasure for our school," said head teacher, Zhao Guixia. "We can see the great value of humanity, especially in Eric Liddell's stories." In the camp, Liddell was affectionately known as "Uncle Eric" because he spent most of his time teaching children, organising sports and helping others. Because he was born in China, some people regard him as the first Chinese Olympic gold medallist. "It is not a joke," said Wang Hao, Weifang's director of foreign affairs. Image caption The camp where Liddell died is now a school "We are very proud of Mr Eric Liddell.

He is a hero". A small internment camp museum features Liddell's story but the city has plans to pay a bigger tribute. The building where he died is to be converted into a new museum with a reconstruction of Liddell's prison room and a waxwork of him inside. It will be a remarkable honour for a Christian missionary in a Communist country. Outside China, his greatest monument is the movie he inspired. Chariots of Fire has been digitally remastered and re-released to cinemas to coincide with London 2012. Eric Liddell: A Champion's Life will be broadcast on BBC Two Scotland at 2200 BST on Monday 23 July. Eric Liddell: The Flying Scotsman — The Official Gateway to Scotland Interactives Eric Liddell: The Flying Scotsman On 11th July 2012, 88 years to the day since Eric Liddell won his Olympic gold medal, a new exhibition opens in Edinburgh celebrating his life, from his early years in China and his fantastic Gold Medal victory at the 1924 Paris Olympics to his missionary work in China.

Here, Eric’s eldest daughter Patricia Liddell Russell, talks about her father, The Flying Scotsman and the inspiration behind Chariots of Fire. On a university track in Toronto, a young woman is running laps, clocking her time as she goes. Those coaching, others watching, are only interested in whether she’s good enough for the next athletics meeting. They are unlikely to know her background – that she is the great-granddaughter of an Olympic legend and that linked to her inherited talent is a story which can make grown men weep. “She’s fast,” says her grandmother Patricia Russell in a soft Canadian accent. “She’s got a scholarship because of her ability and is in her fourth year studying radiography, but we’ll see if she takes the running any further. We were all swift when we were young, you know, but we didn’t really go into athletics properly, girls weren’t really pushed then. And we don’t use the Liddell name, we don’t boast, even if my grandmother always said ‘remember who you are’.” Patricia laughs and settles back into the sofa in her cousin Joan Nicol’s Gilmerton home.

The eldest daughter of Eric Liddell, the athlete and missionary, she’s just arrived in Edinburgh on a whirlwind visit to open the newly-refurbished cafe, reception and disabled ramp at the Eric Liddell Centre in Morningside as well as launch a sports scholarship in his name at Edinburgh University, where he studied pure science and where his medals are held. Then she and her husband will head south to his alma mater Eltham College in London for its sports day and 100th anniversary celebrations. There can be few in Edinburgh – in the UK – who don’t know the story of the deeply religious Liddell, especially as it was captured, if a little fictionalised, in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire. That movie, now 31 years old, has been digitally remastered and is re-released in July, and so the tale of how the young Scottish sprinter refused to run the 100m on a Sunday but instead won gold in the 400m in the 1924 Paris Olympics will affect a whole new generation. The story has also recently made it to the stages of London’s West End, where Liddell is portrayed by Borders actor Jack Loudon.

“Oh it’s marvellous,” says Patricia.” We went to see it and I met the young man who plays my father and he is wonderful. He hardly knew the story really, especially what happened after the Olympics, so I’ve promised to send him a book.” Of course the Eric Liddell story is making waves again thanks to London 2012, and Patricia admits that her phone rings with enquiries from the media every four years about just what her father, the man the world knew as the athlete who refused to run on a Sunday, would make of the modern-day Olympics with all its drugs controversies and big money. “I think he would be quite appalled really,” says the 77-year-old. “Of course I’ve no real idea what he would say, but going by what my mother has told us and how we were raised, I believe he wouldn’t have been very impressed at all by modern athletics. Those that use drugs to win, he would ask ‘have you really won? Were you really the best on the day if you did?’ “I also think he wouldn’t like such a focus on gold all the time. Just to get there, to compete in the Olympics, all those athletes have to be wonderful.

I think he would just be glad if they did their utmost without compromising themselves, and if they didn’t win, then at least they were still winners from doing their best.” Being the daughter of a man with such high ideals, and of world renown, seems as though it could have been a burden. After all, not only did he win Olympic gold – and bronze in the 200m – but he went on to win the hearts and minds of thousands of Chinese people as a missionary, ultimately dying of a brain haemorrhage in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. It’s a story which has so many heroic moments that living up to the Liddell name seems a strain. “You know sometimes I think it’s as well we grew up in Canada,” she says. “I think if we’d been here rather than Canada, where my mother was from, our lives would have been very different. He went to the Olympics and did well, and that was nice, but it was just a small part of his life and he then went on to do what he thought was important. He very seldom spoke about the Olympics and he wouldn’t have wanted us to sit around and bask in his glory. That would be no life.

“He would hate the idea that he was idolised in any way. To me he was daddy. Always daddy, as I was just six when I last saw him so wasn’t old enough to grow out of using that word. Canada doesn’t make a huge fuss about him and our family, so we got to grow up doing our own thing and being ourselves.” She adds: “The Eric Liddell Centre though is something which I think he would be very pleased with. He would have been proud of the work it does. It’s the same with the scholarship at Edinburgh University, they are useful and can really change a person’s life. I think he would be embarrassed by some of the fuss made about what he did, but if it can create something wonderful, then that’s good.” Liddell was born in Tianjin, China to Scottish parents, and after boarding at Eltham College came to Edinburgh to study. He was a Scottish rugby internationalist as well as an athlete, and it was during his time as a student that he took part in the Olympic Games. In 1925, he went back to Tianjin and worked as a middle school teacher.

He was detained in the concentration camp built by the Japanese for foreign residents in Weifang until 1945 when he died there. “He had a wicked sense of humour,” she says. “He liked making jokes and was very light-hearted with a dazzling smile. And even though he didn’t want to run on a Sunday he never tried to stop other people from doing so, he just wouldn’t give up his principles for a medal. “But he was a liberal really. I was told a story that when he was in the Pow camp he helped a prostitute put up some shelves in her room and she told him it was the first time a man had done something for her without asking for anything in return. But to him she was a person, a human being in need of a helping hand. He was never judgmental, in fact he was ahead of his time. “I’m not sure that really comes across in the film, even though it was a wonderful film. My aunt Jenny [cousin Joan’s mother] was also different to the way she came across in the film.

In fact she was in China when daddy was in the Olympics, so her part is totally made up, and she wasn’t happy as she felt it made her appear priggish, when she was anything but – they all really supported his running.” She adds: “I remember being devastated I couldn’t come to Edinburgh for the premiere as mother was ill. She’d been over to the UK before and had seen some of the rushes and met Ian Charleson who played daddy. But for the premiere my sisters Heather and Maureen came instead – and for Maureen it was wonderful as she’d never met daddy.” When Liddell was interred during the Second World War, he sent his family back to his wife Florence’s native country of Canada. “I think if it had just been Heather and I we would have stayed with him,” says Patricia. “But my mother was pregnant so we were sent away. We kept thinking he would soon be coming to join us, but we never saw him again. I was ten when we were told that he had died. “It’s hard to remember much about him, but what I do recall is a summer spent just outside Edinburgh with family. It was glorious.

It was 1940 and he was on furlough back to Scotland and we’d sailed here from China. We had a wonderful time with all the cousins and grandparents and just being with mummy and daddy. “Then I remember when we were sailing back across the Atlantic, and the war was on so it was dangerous. We were in a convoy of ships and some of them were torpedoed. We saw ships going down. We were actually hit as well but the torpedo didn’t detonate. To this day I can hear the motor of that ship going as fast as it could go to get out of there. “It became very dangerous in China as well and people were told to leave. My father though felt he had responsibilities. So we went and he stayed.” Part of the Liddell legend goes that he was later offered a place on a ship out of China, but turned it down so it could be given to a pregnant lady. Patricia is unsure of the truth of the story, but says it sounds like the actions of her dad.

“But he always said to my mother that there were many remarkable people in China doing amazing things.” The exhibition will be at the Eric Liddell Centre, Morningside, Edinburgh for 8 weeks until 5 September. The gallery of photographs charts Eric's life through intimate, never-before-seen family snaps and iconic imagery from his triumph in Paris, with both English and Chinese commentary. Eric Liddell - Olympic Athlete and Christian Missionary Eric Liddell The Medievalist Eric Liddell - Olympic Athlete and Christian Missionary Born in China on January 16, 1902, to Scottish missionary parents, Eric Liddell is known to most of us for his unwavering Christian convictions during the Olympic games as portrayed in the Oscar-winning movie Chariots of Fire. As a member of a close-knit Scottish protestant missionary family, Eric and his brother Rob grew up in boarding schools while his parents served in China. On his parents' and younger siblings' infrequent furloughs, the family would gather joyfully in Edinburgh. In 1920, Eric Liddell entered the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a science degree after competing in the 1924 Olympic Games.

During his college years, rugby was Eric's sport of choice, and he played with distinction both for the University and later on Scotland's national team. However, his true athletic talent was running, so he set aside rugby to concentrate on preparing for the 1924 Paris Olympics, in which he won a gold medal for the 400-meter and a bronze medal for the 200-meter. His refusal to run on Sunday is detailed in Chariots of Fire. After the Olympics, Eric Liddell began his life's work as a missionary to China, following in his parents footsteps. He served in North China from 1925 until his death in 1945. When the Japanese invaded China, life became precarious for westerners - especially those like Eric Liddell who were working in Japanese-held territory. In 1941, the British government strongly urged its people to leave. Sending his wife, Florence (neé Mackenzie), and their three daughters to safety, Eric Liddell elected to stay. Imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp in 1943, Eric Liddell developed a brain tumor under conditions where effective treatment was impossible.

In spite of tremendous pain, Eric Liddell maintained his faith, courage and kindness towards others until the end - dying shortly after his 43rd birthday in January 1945. Throughout the past several centuries, the strong and stalwart Scots Protestant tradition has produced great men and women of every profession and field of scholarship, but nowhere has Scotland been better served than by the Scottish missionaries who have given their lives for the sake of Christ and His message. Eric Liddell chose to live a dangerous, materially unrewarding life in China, serving his God, when fame and riches were within his grasp. His greatness of heart and unwavering conviction are an inspiration to people of faith everywhere. For more information about Eric Liddell's legacy, visit the Eric Liddell Centre's website. "The Centre was set up as a living memorial to Eric Liddell and has been serving the local and wider Edinburgh community for more than twenty years." Eric Liddell Eric LiddellBiographies, a film andTV documentaries--what is so compelling about Eric Liddell?

Eric Liddell Sprinter Eric Liddell—Scotland, 1924 Olympic gold medal in the 400-metre dash With the Olympic Games taking place in China, the name of Eric Liddell comes to mind. Eric was, of course, the runner who took gold in the 1924 Olympics before devoting his life to teaching and mission work in China, where he had been born of Scottish missionary parents. His story was made into a film, “Chariots of fire.” Eric was a world-class sprinter who was being talked of as a potential gold medallist in the 100-metre dash in the 1924 Olympics. But when the schedule for the Olympics was announced, the heats were set for a Sunday. Eric decided that as a Christian who honoured “the Sabbath,” he would not run in the 100. In “Chariots of fire” Eric is portrayed as only finding out on the boat to France that the event was scheduled for Sunday and being pressured by the Prince of Wales to sacrifice his principles rather than let his country down. Dramatic theatre, but not factual!

Eric knew months previously and geared his training towards the 200 and 400 metres in which he was also an excellent runner. In fact, the British Olympic Association tried to get the 100 switched from Sunday. He took bronze in that 1924 Olympic 200-metres final and then went on not only to win gold in the 400 but also to set a new world record of 47.6 in the process. His decision to go to China meant that 1925 was his last season in competitive athletics. While in China he did no formal training but continued to run when the opportunity offered itself. In 1925 he set off to China where he served with the London Missionary Society initially as a teacher and subsequently as a traveling evangelist. He remained—but for two periods of leave—in China until his death in a Japanese internment camp in Weishien, China in 1945. Having been born in China of parents who gave their lives to mission work in China, it was natural that Eric would feel a strong call to that country. However, it appears that he was initially a somewhat reluctant missionary, unsure if he could handle the task.

Eric Liddell competed only in one Olympics—and that 74 years ago—and won only one gold medal. Yet he is better known than many Olympians who have achieved more. What is so compelling about Eric Liddell that his life has been recorded in a dozen biographies, a film and at least two TV documentaries? The answer seems to be because he refused to run on a Sunday. He captured the imagination of millions by tossing away his chance of a gold medal in the 100—the race he was favorite to win—because a principle of his Christian faith mattered more. Again he gave up a comfortable life in Scotland and the chance to defend his Olympic title to help boys in China get a better education. While in the Japanese prison camp, he lived for others. One of his roles was to organize sports for the kids. When a group of teenagers wanted to play hockey one Sunday, Eric said that they could have the equipment but he would not be there to umpire. They decided to organise a hockey game by themselves despite him—boys against girls. It ended in a fight because there was no umpire. On the following Sunday, Eric turned out on that field to act as umpire. This incident speaks volumes about Eric.

As Sally Magnusson put it in her book, The Flying Scotsman, “He would not run on a Sunday for an Olympic gold medal in the 100 meters and all the glory in the world; but he refereed a game on Sunday, he broke his unbreakable principle, just to keep a handful of imprisoned youngsters at peace with each other.” There will be many great champions in the 2008 Olympics, but will there be any of the integrity and character of Eric Liddell? This story was contributed by Stuart Weir, executive director of the international sports ministry, Verité Sport, based in Oxford, England Athletes in Action is the sports Ministry of Cru. 1924 - Paris 1924 - Paris 1924 - Paris Abrahams and Liddell win gold medals in Games that are inspiration for Chariots of Fire Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell's victories in the 100 and 400 metres respectively in the 1924 Olympics are surely the best chronicled athletics performance ever after it they were immortalised in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire.

Liddell, son of a Church of Scotland minister, refused to run in the 100m at the Games because his devout Christian beliefs would not allow him to race on a Sunday. He then switched to the 400m instead and broke the world record in recording a famous victory. He declined to defend his title, becoming a missionary instead, and after devoting his life to the church, he died of a brain tumour in a Japanese internment camp in 1945, aged just 43. For the sake of dramatic effect, the film shows Liddell beating Abrahams in a 100m race in London. It was a fictitious event based on the 1923 AAA's championship (the pair never met over 100m), but it allowed the film -makers to make a point - that in their opinion, Liddell was the better sprinter, and would have won gold in the Olympic 100m ahead of Abrahams but for his religious beliefs.

Other parts of the Liddell story the film skips over include his refusal to run in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays because the heats were also on a Sunday, as well as the stinging criticism he received for being a "traitor" to Britain's cause. Not much is made either of his rugby career, which won him seven caps on the wing for Scotland. Abrahams employed a professional coach Sam Mussabini - which raised eyebrows among the establishment's blue blazer brigade. Encouraged by his elder brother Sidney - himself an accomplished athlete who competed in the 1908 and 1912 Games - the Bedford-born sprinter pursued his dream. Nervous and tense in the final but highly confident, his winning time of 10.6sec saw him become the first European and only Englishman to take the sprint crown until Linford Christie's victory in 1992. The Games had something of a film theme, as America's Johnny Weissmuller, winner of two swimming gold medals, was later to find fame in Hollywood as Tarzan.

The biggest star of the Olympics, though, was the Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi, winner of five gold medals to add to the three he had won in Antwerp four years earlier. These included winning the 1500m and the 5000m less than an hour later. It was a fitting end to Baron Pierre de Coubertin's reign as president of the International Olympic Committee. He was due to retire in 1925 and badly wanted to erase the bad memories of the disastrous Paris Olympics of 1900. All the action took place in the Stade de Colombes, a stadium built on the site in 1907 and remodelled for the 1924 Olympics. The Games have been seen as the last flourishing of a golden age of amateur sport when the motto of the Games, Citius, Altius, Fortius - Swift, High, Strong - was first used.

Its cinder track was once among the fastest in the world, while the pitch, overlooked by stands for 60,000, had its most infamous moment in 1938, when the soccer World Cup Final was marked by fascist salutes as Italy beat Hungary 4-2. Date Games held: May 4-July 27 Number of nations represented: 44 Number of competitors: 3,070 (125 women) Number of medal events: 126 Timeline Share this page inside the blogs

Question: Which Scottish athlete refused to run on a Sunday at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games?
Answer: Eric Liddle