Run To Win

Anyone who has been following the Olympic Games in Rio will be familiar with Usain Bolt, the amazing Jamaican sprinter.  His name will no doubt go down in history as the world’s fastest runner.  He is not the first Olympic sprinter, however, to catch the imagination of the world.   It was 92 years ago that another runner made world headlines by refusing to run on a Sunday.  What made his story so special that, 25 years after his death, Hollywood would make an award-winning film about him?  What is so special about Eric Liddell?             

Eric was born of missionary parents in Tientsin, China.  He later became the most popular and most widely known athlete Scotland had ever produced.  He was a champion rugby player for Scotland’s national team before he concentrated on his God-given ability to run.  Eric represented Great Britain in the 1924 Olympics, winning the gold medal in the 400 metres and the bronze medal in the 200 metres. 

Eric made world news in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris.  The 100 metre run was actually his specialty, but when it was announced that the heats of the 100 metres were to be held on Sunday, he refused to run.  As a devoted Christian, he believed Sunday was to be devoted to the Lord, not to sports.  Even those who did not agree with him admired this young man’s unshakable convictions.  Liddell choose to run the 400 metres instead, and even though he drew the outside lane, the hardest lane for that race, he won the race and the gold medal.  He said at that time “The secret in the 400m is that I run the first 200m as fast as I can.  Then, for the last 200m, with God’s help, I run faster.”

He returned to Scotland as a national hero and spent the next year as an effective evangelist, traveling throughout Britain and America.  This world-famous man then quietly slipped out of the spotlight to pursue his life’s call—as a missionary to China. 

He returned to the place of his birth—Tientsin—and taught at an Anglo-Chinese College there for a number of years.  Then he accepted the hard challenge of rural evangelism, which required many miles of travel by foot and bicycle under rugged conditions. 

When World War II broke out in 1942, the Chinese province where Eric served as a missionary was overrun by the invading Japanese.  All foreigners, including missionaries and missionary children, were put in prison camp.  Eric’s Christian character was known to all in that difficult place.  He served in the camp as an arbitrator, making the welfare of each prisoner his concern.  He led many to faith in Christ, preaching to the 1,800 people who were jammed into the camp, which measured only 137 by 182 metres. Years later, Chinese officials revealed that Eric refused an opportunity to leave the camp, giving his place instead to a pregnant woman.  His wife was released to safety in Canada.  There she gave birth to their third daughter, whom Eric never saw.  He died in the camp of a brain tumor shortly before he was to be released. 

Eric became “Uncle Eric” to the missionary children in the camp, helping keep their courage up by teaching them in games.  One man who survived the harsh camp as a child later said, “None of us will ever forget this man whose humble life combined muscular Christianity with radiant godliness.  What was his secret?  He unreservedly committed his life to Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.  That friendship meant everything to him.”

Eric Liddell’s story is told so powerfully in the 1981 Academy Award-winning film, Chariots of Fire.  His life truly exemplifies the admonition of Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:24:

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?

                         Run in such a way as to get the prize.”