Eric Henry Liddell (January 16, 1902 – February 21, 1945, Chinese name 李爱锐, Li Airui) was a Scottish athlete and Rugby Union international and the winner of the Men's 400 metres at the Olympic Games of 1924 held in Paris. He then served as a Protestant Christian missionary to China. He was immortalised in the film Chariots of Fire. His surname is pronounced /lɪdl/ and rhymes with fiddle.
Eric Liddell, fondly called the "flying scotsman", was born in Tientsin (Tianjin)(Chinese 天津) in North China, second son of Rev & Mrs James Dunlop Liddell who were Scottish missionaries with the London Missionary Society. Liddell went to school in China until the age of five. At the age of six, he and his brother Rob, eight years old, were enrolled in Eltham College, Blackheath, England, a boarding school for the sons of missionaries. Their parents and sister Jenny returned to China. During the boys' time at Eltham their parents, sister and new brother Ernest came home on furlough two or three times and were able to be together as a family - mainly living in Edinburgh.
At Eltham, Liddell was an outstanding sportsman, being awarded the Blackheath Cup as the best athlete of his year, playing for the 1st XI and the 1st XV by the age of 15, later becoming Captain of both cricket and rugby. His headmaster described him as being 'entirely without vanity'.
Eric and Rob were both exceptional athletes. Eric Liddell became well known for being the fastest runner in Scotland while at Eltham. Newspapers carried the stories of his successful track meets. Many articles stated that he was a potential Olympic winner, and no one from their country had ever won a gold medal before.
Liddell was chosen to speak for Glasgow Students' Evangelical Union (GSEU) because he was so well known. The GSEU hoped that he would draw large crowds, so that many people would hear the Gospel. The GSEU would send out a group of eight to ten men to an area where they would stay with the local population. It was Liddell's job to be the lead speaker and to evangelize the men of Scotland. Many came to see him because he was an accomplished athlete, but all heard his message of faith.
In 1920, Eric joined his brother Rob at the University of Edinburgh to read Pure Science. Athletics and rugby played a large part in Eric's university life. He ran in the 100 yards and the 220 yards for Edinburgh University and later for the Scotland national rugby union team. He played rugby for Edinburgh University and in 1922 made his way into the very strong Scottish backline. In 1922 and 1923, he played in seven out of eight "Six Nations", then called the Five Nations, games with A. L. Gracie. He graduated from university with a Bachelor of Science Degree after the Paris Olympiad in 1924.
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's athletics | ||
 |
Paris 1924 | 400 meters |
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Paris 1924 | 200 meters |
During the summer of 1924, the Olympics were hosted by the city of Paris. Liddell was a committed Christian and he refused to race on Sunday, with the consequence that he was forced to withdraw from the Men's 100 metres, his best event. The schedule had been published several months earlier, and his decision was made well before the Games began. Liddell spent the intervening months training for the 400 metres, an event in which he had previously excelled. Even so, his success in the 400 m was largely unexpected. Liddell also ran the 200 meter race, for which he received the bronze medal, beating Harold Abrahams, who finished in sixth place.
After the Olympics and his graduation he returned to North China where he served as a missionary, like his parents, from 1925 to 1943 - first in Tientsin (Tianjin) and later in Shaochang (Chinese 韶昌). Liddell's first job as a missionary was as a teacher at an Anglo-Chinese College (grades 1-12) for wealthy Chinese students. He used his athletic experience to train the boys in a number of different sports. One of his many responsibilities was that of superintendent of the Sunday school at Union Church where his father was pastor.
During his first furlough in 1932, he was ordained as a minister. On his return to China he married Florence Mackenzie (of Canadian missionary parentage) in Tientsin in 1934. They had three daughters, Patricia, Heather and Maureen.
In 1941, life in China was becoming so dangerous that the British Government advised British nationals to leave. Florence and the children left for Canada to stay with her family when Liddell accepted a new position at a rural mission station in Shaochang, which gave service to the poor. He joined his brother, Rob, who was a doctor there. The station was severely short of help and the missionaries who served there were exhausted. There was a constant stream of local people who came at all hours to get medical treatment. Liddell arrived at the station in time to relieve his brother who was ill, needing to go on furlough. Liddell suffered many hardships himself at this mission station.
Meanwhile, the Chinese and the Japanese were at war. When the fighting reached Shaochang the Japanese took over the mission station. In 1943, he was interned at the Weihsien Internment Camp with the members of the China Inland Mission Chefoo School. Liddell became a leader at the camp and helped get it organized. Food, medicines, and other supplies ran short at the camp. In 1945, he died as a result of a brain tumour which may have been caused by being overworked and malnourished. He is interred in the Mausoleum of Martyrs in Shijiazhuang, China.
In 1991, a small memorial headstone was unveiled at Liddell's previously unmarked grave in Tientsin province, erected by Edinburgh University. A few simple words taken from Isaiah, formed the inscription: "They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary."[1]. The city of Weifang, as part of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the internment camp, commemorated the life of Liddell by laying a wreath at the memorial headstone marking his grave in 2005.
The 1981 film Chariots of Fire commemorated the Olympic triumphs and contrasted the lives and viewpoints of both Liddell and Harold Abrahams, starring Ian Charleson as Liddell. One inaccuracy in the movie surrounds Liddell's refusal to race in the 100 metres. The film portrays Liddell as finding out that one of the heats was to be held on a Sunday as he was boarding the boat that would take the British Olympic team across the English Channel on their way to Paris. Actually, the schedule and Liddell's decision were known well in advance, although it is the fact he refused to partake that is significant. The scene in the movie where Liddell fell early in a 400 race in a Scotland-France dual meet and made up a 20-metre deficit to win the race is, however, historically accurate except for the fact that the actual race was during a triangular meet between Scotland, England and Wales. Liddell's unorthodox running style, with his head back and his mouth wide open, is also said to be historically accurate.
