by NORRIE WILLIAMSON
ASKING THE QUESTION
Asking the Question
by NORRIE WILLIAMSON
A Tale of Two Sprinters
As a former Scottish immigrant to SA and a keen follower of the Olympic Games , the film Chariots of Fire , about the 1924 Paris Games , holds a special place in my heart … and I think we may just see something as special at the 2024 Paris Olympics !
Hollywood has celebrated the trials , tribulations and successes of the Olympic Games with epics such as 16 Days of Glory ( about the 1984 Games ) Race ( about Jesse Owens and the 1936 Games ), and the latest 1936 inspiration , The Boys in the Boat , about the USA rowing crew who took Hitler ’ s Berlin Games by storm . However , few have had the all-round impact or enduring motivation of the box office-busting British movie , Chariots of Fire , first released in 1981 , and uniquely re-released in 2012 for the London Olympics .
Chariots of Fire recounted a rather romanticized , but well accepted , story of Scottish missionary sprinter , Eric Liddell , and his Jewish and English counterpart , Harold Abrahams , and their build-up to and participation at the Paris 2024 Olympics . The story put fire and emotion into all that watched their intense drive and rivalry to become 100-metre champions , and it remains a classic . Ironically , though , it is the theme song of the film that is best known by marathon runners worldwide , and here in South Africa , it signals the start of the 90km Comrades journey each year . The hauntingly beautiful music written by Vangelis brings gooseflesh to the skin , and initiates running emotion as well as motion .
The French capital city has hosted the Olympic Games three times , commencing with the second Summer Games in 1900 , followed by the eighth in 1924 , where Liddell and Abrahams both won gold medals ( and which also saw the first Winter Games ). Now , 100 years and 25 days after the athletics began at the 1924 Paris Olympics , the 33rd Summer Games will begin in Paris , running from 26 July to 11 August . And there appears to be an uncanny parallel set to play out a century after the historic events portrayed in Chariots of Fire .
Liddell had been most favoured for the 100m ( subsequently won by Abrahams ), but in the 400m , he upset the favourites , taking the lead and failing to tie-up as he entered the home straight . In the film , Sholtz tells his US teammate before the start of the 400m , “ Watch out for Liddell . He ’ s got something to prove … something personal . Something that people like Coach will never understand .” With his head falling back in a move that seemingly appealed to the heavens , and arms typically flailing like a ‘ drunken windmill ’, Liddell took the tape in a totally unpredicted 47.6 seconds , for what was initially declared a World Record , but would later be revised as second-best to a 47.4 performance achieved earlier in USA .
This was the stuff of comic book heroes , and it ’ s no surprise that when I was a lad growing up in Edinburgh and began playing rugby some four decades later , I was still educated about the legend of the Flying Scot by enthusiastic supporters and peers . Liddell ’ s picture was to be found in many rugby and athletic clubs , as well as religious settings , and he was revered as the epitome of a good sportsman , and a man of principle and integrity . Little did I know then , the impact and connections his story would have later in my life .
Stirring Memories
When Chariots of Fire it was released in South Africa in 1982 , I attended the premier in Durban and walked out with a rather lacklustre personal review . Truth be told , I had spent too much of the movie venue- and people-spotting , because most
The Background
Liddell , who was nicknamed the Flying Scot , first captured national admiration on the wing for the Scottish rugby team , where he earned seven caps in the days when four international games was considered a full season . In 1923 , he won the British AAA Championship 100 yards sprint with a record-breaking 9.7 seconds , and this was a record that would stand for 35 years . In the build-up to the Paris Games , he ran for Scotland in a triangular competition with England and Ireland , famously fell early in a 440-yard race , got up and caught up a 20-yard deficit to take the win by six yards .
It ’ s well known that Liddell refused to race or train on a Sunday , due to his Christian beliefs , and as a result he refused to run in the 100m on a Sunday in the Paris Olympics . This was incorrectly portrayed as a last-minute decision in the film , whereas it was already known in the autumn of 1923 , hence Liddell had already moved up to racing the 400m . The Scot did compete in the 200m , where he took the bronze medal in 21.9 seconds , behind the USA ’ s Jackson Sholtz ( 21.6 ), with Abrahams sixth in 22.3 seconds .
Liddell ’ s Olympic Win
This unforgettable scene from Chariots of Fire shows Eric Liddell ’ s famous win in the 400m final at the 1924 Paris Olympics , having opted out of his preferred 100m event due to his religious beliefs about not competing on a Sunday .
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