|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BiographyEric 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.
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. University of EdinburghIn 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 played 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 Five Nations matches with A. L. Gracie. In 1924 he won the AAA Championships in athletics in the 100 yards (in a British record of 9.7 seconds: this record would not be broken for the next 35 years) and 220 yards (21.6 seconds). He graduated from university with a Bachelor of Science Degree after the Paris Olympiad in 1924. Paris Olympics
Service in ChinaAfter the Olympics and his graduation, Liddell continued to compete. Shortly after the 1924 Olympics, his final leg on the 4 x 400 meters race in a British Empire vs. USA contest helped secure the victory. A year later, in 1925, at the Scottish Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) meeting in Hampden Park in Glasgow, he equaled his own Scottish championship record of 10.0 seconds in the 100 yards, won the 220 yard contest in 22.2 seconds, won the 440 yard contest in 49.2, and participated in a winning relay team. He was only the fourth athlete ever to have won all three sprints at the SAAA, achieving this feat twice: in 1924 and 1925. 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). During this time he continued to compete sporadically, including wins over members of the 1928 French and Japanese Olympic teams in the 200 and 400 meters at the South Manchurian Railway celebrations in China in 1928 and a victory at the 1930 North China championship. 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, to which being overworked and malnourished probably hastened his demise. He is interred in the Mausoleum of Martyrs in Shijiazhuang, China. He was greatly mourned not only at the Weihsien Internment Camp but also in Scotland as well. A fellow internee, Langdon Gilkey, was later to write, "The entire camp, especially its youth, was stunned for days, so great was the vacuum that Eric's death had left." Fifty-six years after the 1924 Paris Olympics, Scotsman Allan Wells won the 100 meter dash at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. When asked after the victory if he had run the race for Harold Abrahams, the last 100 meter Olympic winner from Britain (in 1924), Wells quietly replied, "No, this one was for Eric Liddell." MemorialIn 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 the Book of 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. Chariots of FireThe 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 several months in advance, although it is the fact that he refused to partake that is significant. (It was actually the 100 meter qualifying heats, not the final, that were scheduled for a Sunday. Liddell had also been selected to run as a member of the 4 x 100 meter relay and 4 x 400 meter relay teams at the Olympics but also declined these spots as their heats, too, were to be run on a Sunday.) The scene in the movie where Liddell fell early in a 440 yard 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 Contest meet between Scotland, England and Ireland at Stoke-on-Trent in England in July of 1923. He was knocked to the ground only a few strides into the race. He hesitated, then got up and went pounding after his opponents, now twenty meters ahead. He caught the leaders shortly before the finishing line and promptly collapsed in exhaustion after crossing the tape. Liddell's unorthodox running style, with his head back and his mouth wide open, is also said to be historically accurate. At an athletics championship in Glasgow, a visitor watching the 440 yard final in which Liddell was a long ways behind the leaders at the start of the last lap (of a 220 yard track) remarked to the Glasgow native that Liddell would be hard put to win the race. The Glasgow native merely replied, "His heid's no' back yet." Liddell then threw his head back and with mouth wide open caught and passed his opponents to win the race. See alsoReferencesBooks
|
Sites |
Searched sites for "Eric Liddell" |
|
No sites found. |
Sorry, no matching site records were found. |
Want your site listed here?
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
