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In 2004, Chinese athlete Liu Xiang won Olympic glory for his nation as the gold medalist in the 110-meter hurdles. After his victory, he was acknowledged as the first male Chinese-born track and field Olympic champion. From the standpoint of his nationality, that may be true. If you were to go to Weifang in Shandong, however, you’d find a monument to another son of China who won track and field gold 80 years earlier.

That monument marks the burial site of Eric Liddell. Liddell was the son of Scottish missionaries who competed in the 1924 Paris Olympics for the United Kingdom. But Liddell was born in Tianjin, China, and later died in a Japanese internment camp near Weifang during World War II. His picture is mounted there on a lamppost, and a large granite stone is inscribed with his achievements. In Duncan Hamilton’s excellent biography of Liddell, he calls it “a Communist homage to a Christian, a man China regards with pride as its first Olympic champion.”

Olympic Champion

There are a host of reasons to remember Liddell. As this summer marks the 100-year anniversary of the 1924 Paris Olympics, we look back on his triumphant victory there in the 400 meters.

That story begins in his rivalry with fellow British sprinter Harold Abrahams, the two entering the Olympics as favorites in both the 100 meters and 200 meters. However, Liddell dropped out of a heat for the 100 meters because it was run on Sunday (a race Abrahams later won). Liddell’s decision to skip those races for his religious convictions was immortalized in the movie Chariots of Fire.

I grew up loving that movie, the glimpse of a man who stood firmly on his faith and still emerged a champion. Liddell’s character famously says, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. When I run, I feel his pleasure.” Many a young Christian has been inspired by the fact that, for Liddell, even athletics was a place of worship.

The rest of the article can be read HERE.