ASKING THE QUESTION
C o l u m n
Eric Liddell , the famous Flying Scot , who won gold at the Paris Olympics in 1924
Music to Stir a Runner ’ s Soul
The opening scenes from the 1981 film , Chariots of Fire , with the theme music composed by Vangelis that most South African runners ( and our Scottish columnist ) have come to love .
Image : Roger Sedres & courtesy AZMovies . net , Wikimedia of the venues were scenes from my home city of Edinburgh , or rugby grounds that I had played at either at school or during my District and student rugby career . As an SA immigrant of 18 months , that had distracted somewhat from the greatness of a story I had learnt as a schoolboy , but I still in awe of what I saw .
Firstly , Eric Liddell , who had been christened in Scotland by a relation-in-law , was played by Ian Charleson , a prefect I knew ( for all the wrong reasons ). He was two years ahead of me at Royal High School in Edinburgh ! Appropriately , Charleson was head of the Scripture Union at school , so well chosen to represent the staunchly protestant character of Liddell .
The man who knocked Liddell down in that famous scene where he got up and ran like the wind to regain the lead and win , was played by Scott Brodie , Scotland ’ s second-fastest man in the 1980 ’ s , and a poorly-sighted wing on our school rugby team in the early 1970 ’ s . We used to joke about being sure we put the ball into Scott ’ s hands and just point him in the correct direction . Many of the ‘ extras ’ were local people from Edinburgh or Fife , and some of those famous beach scenes were on the sands at the bitterly cold , windswept St Andrews Old Course , where I too had trained so often with club and district rugby .
Today , I unashamedly admit to being the owner of VHS , DVD and digital versions of the film , which have all been watched many times in the four decades of my running career . Also , I love that the film ’ s theme was adopted by the Comrades Marathon in the mid-80s as a key tradition of the race start , and just like the film , this all means “ mooch , mooch , more ” ( as they said in the famous Lunch Bar advert of the 80s ) to me than most .
A Centenary Sequel
A century after Liddell ’ s famous exploits , it appears there could be a modern-day equivalent in the making , albeit through different circumstances , but with amazingly similar ‘ dots ’ that are starting to appear to connect , albeit in almost a reversal of the script . Let me explain what I am referring to .
There are a lot of parallels between Liddell and SA Olympic Champion Wayde van Niekerk
In 2016 , at the Rio Olympics in Brazil , SA ’ s Wayde van Niekerk was , like Liddell , drawn in the highly unfavoured outside lane for the 400m final . Lane eight is where you can see no-one until they pass you , by which time it ’ s often too late to do much about it ! Generally , this results in athletes going out too fast and then fading in the home straight , but that wasn ’ t the case in Rio . Van Niekerk ’ s blistering pace took him through 200m in the lead , and then he ran a devastating second half to pull away over the last 50m and reset the World Record to 43.03 seconds . Even sprint legend Usain Bolt stood there awestruck .
However , in 2017 , disaster struck . Whereas rugby provided Liddell with his launch into top class sprinting , rugby almost ended Van Niekerk ’ s sprinting career , in the form of a serious knee injury suffered while playing in a fun exhibition touch rugby match . Since then , he has faced considerable challenges in trying to regain his previous 400m form , and he stated at the 2023 World Champs in Budapest , how his family , team support and faith was keeping him going . Again , shades of Liddell .
Shortly before writing this , it was announced that Van Niekerk had withdrawn from the 400m in order to focus on the 200m event in Paris . As with Liddell , the South African has been forced to change to a secondary distance , as a full set of 400m rounds is considered too risky for him right now . His year has been focused on the 200m , where last month ’ s 20.23 into a 2m / s headwind is showing the form that not only gives him ( and Team SA ) hope in the 200m , but also shows his potential to contribute something special in the relay progressions .
Interestingly , the 400m heats are on a Sunday , whereas the 200m will have a Monday , Wednesday progression to the Thursday night final . The 100m also has second round on the Sunday , while none of the relays require Sunday racing . Although I am unaware of Van Niekerk ever avoiding racing or training on a Sunday , he has been vocal about his faith , which makes these little coincidences add still more to the similarities of the two stories .
Inner Strength
As Jackson Sholtz said , Liddell was dangerous because he had something to prove . Seven years after the injury , Van Niekerk will be fuelled by personal desire to show that he can still compete at the highest level . One certainty is that the commitment , motivation and determination that he has shown in getting back to racing , is exactly the inner drive that underwrites those inspirational and exceptional performances of movie magic ! As Liddell said , “ So where does the power come from to see the race to its end ? From within !”
About the Author
Norrie represented Scotland and Great Britain in numerous ultra-distance events , then represented South Africa in triathlon . He is a World Athleticsaccredited coach and course measurer , and travels all over the world to work on events , including the Olympics . He has been appointed by World Athletics as Technical Delegate to a number of the world ’ s leading Label events in Africa , Asia and the Middle East . He has authored two books on running , and counts 20 Comrades medals amongst his more than 150 ultra-marathon medals , as well as multiple wins at distances from 100km to 1000km . You can read more from him at www . coachnorrie . co . za .
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