The Flying Scotsman

The Flying Scotsman

In Tientsin, China, in 1902 a baby boy was born to Scottish missionaries James and Mary Liddell. They named him Eric.

WHEN ERIC was four, his father read in the newspaper how a Scotsman, Wyndham Halswelle, had won second place in the four hundred-meter race in the Olympics, the first Scot ever to win an Olympic medal in track. When his father tried to explain this to Eric and his older brother, Eric asked whether that meant that no Scotsman had ever finished first. The answer was yes.

Eric’s parents took him and his older brother to a boarding school for sons of missionaries in England, and then they returned to China. At school both boys excelled in rugby, cricket, and track. Eric set a school record of 10.2 seconds in the one hundred-meter dash.

Eric attended the University of Edinburgh, where he continued to excel in track. He quickly emerged as the fastest sprinter in Scotland and became a national hero.

In college his older brother was active with other Christian college students in holding evangelistic meetings throughout Scotland. When Eric was invited to speak at one of these rallies in 1923, he accepted. The next morning every newspaper in Scotland announced that Eric Liddell had preached at an evangelistic service. The experience stirred Eric’s soul. It gave him a desire to share the gospel with whomever would listen. Over the next two years he spoke to thousands throughout the British Isles, men and women who came to hear the famous athlete but who returned to hear his message of salvation. Yet newspapers questioned Eric’s commitment to running since he was spending so much time preaching.

The Olympics were to be held in Paris in 1924, and the hopes of England were now pinned on the young Scot as the nation’s champion sprinter. Eric’s best event was the one hundred-meter dash, but when the schedule for the Olympic races was published, the first heats for the one hundred-meters were on a Sunday. Eric held the conviction that he was never to race on Sunday and refused to do so. The English Olympic committee tried to have the date for the first heats changed but to no avail.

As a result, Eric was entered in the two hundred- and four hundred-meter races, events in which he was not at all as dominant as the one hundred meters. The British press attacked him mercilessly. “A traitor to Scottish sporting, to all that Wyndham Halswelle stood for!” announced one newspaper.

On the Sunday of the one hundred-meter trial in Paris, Eric preached in the Scots Kirk, the Scottish Presbyterian church in Paris. In the one hundred-meter trials, Harold Abrahams was the one English sprinter to qualify for the finals the next day.

Harold Abrahams won the one hundred-meter race, the first British runner to win a gold medal in the Olympics. Eric saw that this was just part of God’s plan.

On Wednesday Eric finished second in the two hundred-meter dash, the first Scot ever to win a medal in the 200 meters. But there was still one race to go.

Eric qualified on Thursday for the four hundred-meter finals. But he was far from being the favorite. The finals were held on Friday, July 11, 1924. As he prepared to go to the stadium, the team masseur handed Eric a small folded piece of paper. It read “He that honors me I will honor,” quoting 1 Samuel 2:30. Eric Liddell won the four hundred-meter race, setting a new world record of 47.6 seconds. He was the first Scot to win Olympic gold in track.

The next year Eric Liddell returned to China as a missionary and during World War II died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Chariots of Fire, the movie about his athletic career, won the Academy Award for best picture in 1981.

Reflection

Eric Liddell stood up for his conviction even though all England opposed him. Have you ever had to take a public stand for your convictions? When you take a stand for God, you are never alone.

No one will be able to stand their ground against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.

Joshua 1:5