Spotlight on Eric Liddell

Eric Liddell

Eric Liddell was born in 1902 in Tianjin (pronounced Chen-gen) China to Mr and Mrs Liddell who were Scottish missionaries to China. Eric spent the first years of his life in China until him and his brother were enrolled in a school for children of missionaries in London England. While attending school in London, Eric did well in academics, but excelled at sports. He played rugby, but it appears right away that he could run almost like no one else.

He was recruited to speak for the Glasgow Students’ Evangelical Union because of his strong Christian faith and what was believed to be his ability to draw large crowds because of his new feats in running.

Mr Liddell went on to school at Edinburgh and excelled at running setting the 100 meter record at 9.7 seconds. He would hold this record for twenty three years before it was finally broken. In the 1924 Olympiad he won a bronze in the 200 meter race and a gold in the 400 meter race. He did not run his favored race which was the 100 meter race because it was on Sunday and Liddell wouldn’t run on the Sabbath because of his convictions.

Eric would later go back to China in 1925 as a missionary in Tianjin as well as Xiaozhang. (pronounce shoa ghong). He taught and evangelized in this poverty stricken part of China for years. He would compete against other runners from time to time, and eventually married another missionary and had three girls; the last of which he would not meet.

When the Japanese invaded China during World War II, they eventually made it to Tianjin and Liddell and other missionaries were imprisoned. He would eventually become a leader to the prisoners and help out the best he could even though supplies were scarce at best.

The last letter he wrote to his wife he describes a ‘nervous breakdown’ he had because of the pressure and work in the prison camp. He actually had an inoperable brain tumor to go along with his malnourishment and mistreatment. When he died it was said to have a great impact on the whole camp, especially the young prisoners. His last words are said to be ‘It’s complete surrender’ talking about his life for Christ.

The 1981 movie Chariots of Fire is based on Eric and Harold Abrahams life and the Olympics. This is also a memorial dedicated to his honor in the former Weihsien Internment Camp.