LIghT ThE WAy ChAPTER 9 RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT The Flying Scotsman


Imagine that you have been selected to represent your country at the Olympic Games. You are due to run in the 100-metres race. This is your best event. Then, you decide not to run. You do so because the race will be held on a Sunday. It is against your religious beliefs to compete on that day of the week. Instead, you decide to preach at the Scots Church on Rue Bayard. This is what Eric Liddell chose to do at the Paris Olympics in 1924.


Liddell was a science student at Edinburgh University between 1920 and 1924. Athletics and rugby played a major role in his life. In 1921 he ran for Edinburgh University’s athletics team. He also played rugby for his university and, in 1922, won seven international rugby caps for Scotland. However, realising that he did not have enough time for both sports, Liddell chose running, concentrating on the 100-metres event at the Paris Olympics. In every race held in the year leading up to the Olympics, he had defeated all his rivals.


Eric Liddell was known as ‘the Flying Scotsman’ due to his incredible speed and his awkward style of running.


up such a great opportunity: he was the favourite to win the gold. Liddell’s decision was widely criticised in the newspapers and even in the British parliament, but his mind was made up. He would not give in to pressure. Liddell simply said that he had his own priorities. Living according to his religious beliefs mattered more to him than winning a medal for his king and country.


Then Liddell surprised everyone by announcing that he would run in the 400-metres race. This was a distance in which he had performed well, but it was not his best. Also, Paris had been struck by a crippling heatwave,


with temperatures regularly exceeding 40°C. These conditions did not help Liddell’s tactics for the race. Most commentators did not rate him as having a chance of winning any medal, never mind the gold.


Liddell became known as ‘the Flying Scotsman’ due to both his incredible speed and his awkward style of running. He ran with a huge sprawling stride, head thrown back and arms clawing the air. When some of his Olympic opponents first saw him running they simply doubled up with laughter and made the mistake of underestimating him.


However, Eric Liddell was more than just a great athlete. He was also a deeply religious man. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church. During his time in Edinburgh he had become a widely respected speaker who was much in demand.


When Liddell announced he would not run in the 100-metres Olympic final because it would be held on a Sunday, most Britons were puzzled by his decision. They were disappointed and could not understand why such a talented athlete would pass


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Then the draw for running lanes dealt Liddell another blow: he was given the outside lane. There he would be unable to see his rivals. So, he was left with no other option but to run as fast as he could for as long as he could.


On the day of the race, he went around and shook the hands of all the other contestants. He was not expected to win.


Liddell started well and covered the first 200m in 22.2 seconds. Just inside him in lane 5 was Horatio Fitch, the American who had broken the world record in the semi-final. ‘I couldn’t believe a man could set such a pace and finish,’ Fitch said afterwards. ‘But Liddell pushed himself like a man possessed. He didn’t weaken. With the tape only 20 yards away I again moved closer, but Liddell threw his head farther back, gathered himself together and shot forward.’


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