In Great Britain during the 20th century, the name Eric Liddell was synonymous with athletic greatness. “The Flying Scotsman,” as he was called, sped his way into international track and field lore with his exploits in collegiate and Olympic sprinting as a young man. 

A 1970 biography is titled Scotland’s Greatest Athlete: The Eric Liddell Story. He is named alongside tennis great Andy Murray, car racing’s Jackie Stewart and others in a list of the greatest Scottish sportsmen. In 2022, he was posthumously named to the Scottish Rugby Hall of Fame for his achievements as a member of the Scottish National Team in 1922 and 1923.

But 100 years after his athletic zenith—a legendary, world record 400-meter victory at the 1924 Olympics in Paris in a race nobody thought he could win—Eric Liddell’s legacy is much richer than the rare achievement of world records and Olympic gold. 

For those who have seen the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire, which depicts his life, his name likely carries great admiration. More telling, though, is that those who knew him best describe him as a Christian exemplar; a man who followed Jesus with rugged, unwavering obedience, joy and good humor, yet at great personal cost.

BEGINNINGS IN CHINA

Eric was born in 1902 to missionary parents in Tianjin, China. When he was just 6, he and his 8-year-old brother, Robert, were sent to Britain to be educated at Eltham College, a South London boarding school, alongside other missionary children. Their parents returned to China to continue their missionary work. The family, which also included two younger siblings, was reunited in Scotland when the Liddells took missionary furloughs. 

Numerous sources describe Eric as remarkably humble and considerate. He showed early signs of athleticism as a “rugger”—rugby being a game his headmaster considered formative for boys.

In 1923, Liddell made waves in what was considered his best track event: the 100-yard dash. His 9.7-second time set a British record that stood for 35 years. 

But after qualifying for the 1924 Olympics in Paris, Liddell learned weeks before the games that the 100-meter heats would be held on a Sunday. Convicted that he should not race on the Sabbath, Liddell instead began training for the 400 meters. 

On race day in Paris, Liddell’s courage moved a masseur at the team hotel in Paris to hand him a note, instructing him to open it at the stadium. Standing on the track before his race, Liddell pulled out the folded note and read: “In the old Book it says, ‘He that honours me I will honour.’ Wishing you the best of success always.” Liddell immediately recognized the words from 1 Samuel 2:30. 

That day, Liddell shocked everyone, setting a world record of 47.6 seconds in the 400 meters. He returned to Scotland amid great fanfare, but with the vast spiritual lostness of China foremost in his mind.

RETURN TO CHINA

He returned to his native land in 1925, at age 23, to teach 500 boys at a Christian middle school in Tianjin, near where his parents were serving. He also taught Sunday school and weekday Bible studies, mentored young men, and organized sports and activities at the school. Liddell also occasionally raced when invited to compete. In 1928, he won 200- and 400-meter races against Olympic athletes from France and Japan in Manchuria, in an event organized by Japan.

In 1934, Eric married Florence Mackenzie, the daughter of Canadian missionaries. In the next few years, they welcomed two daughters, Patricia and Heather. Meanwhile, they agreed Eric should take up evangelism in Xiaochang, in the eastern Hebei province, due to a shortage of missionaries. But before Eric left for Xiaochang in 1937, Japan attacked China. Because of increased danger, Florence and the two girls stayed in Tianjin. 

Until late 1941, Eric worked closely with the London Missionary Society in Xiaochang, often tending to serious physical needs, injury and famine among the people. Periodically, he was able to travel back to Tianjin to see his family.

In May 1941, Eric sent Florence—then pregnant with a third daughter, Maureen, whom Eric would never meet—along with Patricia and Heather, to wait out the war in Canada, and a few months later the Japanese military placed Eric under house arrest.

In 1943, he was sent to the Weihsien prison camp for “enemy nationals.” There, Eric stood apart for his Christlike example to his fellow prisoners and the Japanese guards. He taught children in the camp school; he organized games and other activities; he helped solve conflicts between prisoners. Stories abound of his friendliness, his sense of humor and his kindness. 

A fellow missionary told of a time a fly had landed on a biscuit when they were gathered to eat, and Eric quickly took it for himself, “to make certain that no one else should suffer discomfort as a result of eating the biscuit defiled by the fly.”

By the end of 1944, Eric’s physical state began to drop off noticeably, and word in the camp was that he was ill.

On Feb. 21, 1945, he died of a massive hemorrhage as a result of a brain tumor. Memorial services were held in the prison camp, in Canada and in Scotland, paying tribute to a man whose supreme goal was to know and to obey Christ.

A.P. Cullen, a fellow student and later a fellow missionary and roommate, wrote of Eric: “He was, literally, God-controlled—in his thoughts, judgments, actions, words—to an extent I have never seen surpassed, and rarely seen equaled.” ©2024 BGEA 

Photo: AP Images