Eric Liddell feature by Mary Carillo

Oh welcome back to our Olympic studios where we're joined by Mary Carillo with more on the legendary figure in track and field Mary I get to tell a beautiful story of a Varrick little and the essence of Eric little the athlete was made famous by the film that won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1981 a lot of you have seen it Chariots of Fire which told of this religious scotsman of great conscience who refused to compete in the 100 meters because the heats were held on a Sunday and who then won glory anyway with gold in the 400 but what followed the 1924 Paris Games was just as dramatic and that story the less known second chapter of Eric littles life takes place entirely here in China during the most tumultuous years of this country's fight for nation Eric little was a citizen of two nations beloved in Scotland but devoted to China in one country he'd find the simple joy of sweet athletic success in another he'd encountered the full range of human chaos and define himself fully as an exceptional human being lubos place in Olympic history is more about the race he didn't run than the one he'd win in Chariots of Fire little stands firm when pressed to change his decision not to run the 100 meters because the heats are scheduled on a Sunday God make countries God makes Kings rules by which the government and those rules say the Sabbath is his I for one intend to keep it that way Sally Magnuson is the author of the Flying Scotsman fascinating thing about a little was that it was not a drive to succeed at the expense of everything because ultimately what mattered him was following his God the sacrifice wasn't insignificant the 100 meters was littles best race at the Paris games the 100 would be won by littles fellow countryman Harold Abraham's who little had already raced and beaten as such riddles gold in the 400 where he was hardly favored almost seems like an act of Providence it was so phenomenal about that 400 meters was that a little banner is a sprint I mean people couldn't believe it they were sitting in the stadium saying he's gonna burn up he's peaked too early was he playing at does he think this is the 200 meters he often said he ran the first 200 as fast as he could and with God's help he ran last part faster and then at the point where they thought right no he's got to slow down you know you cannot continue like this at that moment his chin went back his head was flung back and you know this amazing windmill action of his arms started up and he just belted forward and he wanted comfortably four to seven point six seconds it was a world record they had never seen a race like it ever returning to Scotland and Edinburgh University little immediately switched his focus to China to follow the missionary path of his father and brother heading for the train Edinboro serenaded their Olympic hero with a Scottish classic was he not come back again to a little surprised there was crowds of people lining the streets as he went and that was what the feeling that the Scottish people had for a little nobody could be better love than you please come back again during the 1930s in China littles missionary work extended beyond preaching and teaching he was literally saving lives as a country was ravaged by a civil war and then foreign occupation by the Japanese with the situation worsening little sent his wife with two daughters and pregnant with a third back to her home in Canada they sat down Trisha I want you to be strong and I want you to look after your mother and help her with this new baby when she comes and I thought it was all grown up you know I was only six but yes I put do that on December 8th 1941 the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor the Japanese ordered little and nearly 2,000 foreigners from allied countries to an internment camp in Wei Phan 300 miles southeast of Beijing Mary privity daughter of missionaries was 11 at the time I will never forget that day long snaking line of children and missionaries carrying whatever they could across the city to the first concentration camp we were in and up at the head of the line our headmaster started singing a song from psalm 46 we sang the songs into prison camp the only physical artifacts left from the internment camp are these kept here in this tiny room but they provide a glimpse into the dark existence Erik little endure during the war we weren't dying but we didn't have much strength Stephen Metcalf was a teenager when he was confined at Wei Phan he recalls little as a camp leader science teacher recreational counselor and spiritual guide I was in a Bible class and he pinpointed the verse love your enemies do good to them that hate you you see he said I've been getting up early in the morning and praying from the Japanese he challenged us to start praying for the Japanese and I started to pray for the Japanese how do you anchor children in an uncertain world you set up rituals and traditions and comfortably predictable activities our teachers did that for us Erik little did that for us these were people that said you can keep children feeling safe even in a world that isn't safe in February 1945 littles health deteriorated suddenly and he died from a brain tumor six months later the camp was liberated by American paratroopers dropped from a b-24 bomber people just were hysterical with joy they were screaming they were laughing they were crying they were cursing men waving their shirts at this plane that kept circling around and the prisoners just pushed out of the gates hurric little was one of the heroes of our camp and that's one of the sorrows that I have thought if only uncle Eric could have seen that day when another Scottish athletes Allen Wells 100 metres for Britain in the 1980 Moscow Olympics he was asked did you run this for Harold Abraham's and Allen Wells just smiled me said no this one was very little clearly Allen Wells point was this was the race that Eric little would have won and he was running it for him at a ceremony in 1991 uniting way Fung in Edinburgh a memorial stone was unveiled and that's that's really quite remarkable because the Chinese do not have monuments to foreigners and it is still there today and I saw it just a couple of weeks ago it is it's really quite moving born 1902 in China the son of Christian missionaries died 1945 in China having adopted the calling of his parents in these Olympics we see in ascendant Chinese sports program but it is worth noting this men of two nations who is in fact the first Olympic gold medallist ever born in China and whose impact lives on with a glowing relevance behave as something was intended and the thing of it is you know we have met so many athletes over the years Olympians who just want to be great and do great this man wanted to be good and do good yeah an Olympian and ever since exactly thank you very much Mary we'll be back with more with the games of the 29th Olympiad immediately after this

Channel: Michael Handy

Views: 38,606

Rating: 4.9497485 out of 5

Keywords: Eric Liddell, Chariots of Fire, Olympic Games, Beijing, Mary Carillo

Id: h0h0lEG-v-8

Length: 9min 32sec (572 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 13 2013