Two athletes, the Jewish-English Harold Abrams and the Scottish theologian and later missionary Eric Liddell, each aspire, for different reasons, to win an Olympic medal. A deep friendship will bind two men who will compete in 1924 Olympic Gameswill succeed, but after that Lindell will prioritize missionary work.

An Olympic gold medalist in the 400m, he breathed his last at the age of 43 as a prisoner of war in a Japanese camp. His contribution to the community turned him into… a kind of legend for the missionary church.

Lindell was born in China to Scottish missionaries. At the age of six he went to school in London, where his teachers discovered in him a talent for sports. Without much effort, he excelled in sports, and although the headmaster called him “a child without vanity”, his natural ability made him the captain of the cricket and rugby teams.

At the university, he earned the title of “Scotland’s fastest runner”, and the press of the time called him a future Olympian. In parallel with his studies, he was a devout Christian and played rugby, and at the age of only 20, Lindell was inducted into the Scottish Hall of Fame of this sport.

In parallel, he was engaged in rugby and athletics. With his speed, he quickly began to break one record after another and in 2023 he gave up rugby to devote himself to preparing for the 1924 Olympics.

His devotion to Christianity caused him not to compete in the 100m because the race was held on a Sunday. In the 100m, the other person who inspired the film Roads of Fire, an Englishman of Jewish origin, Harold Abrams, became the Olympic champion.

In the 200 m, he won a bronze medal, while Abrams finished 6th. Lindell was an absolute star in the 400 m, setting a world and Olympic record of 47.6.

The 400m and the selfless friendship of two men who discover through sport that they have more in common than what separates them form the basis of the screenplay for the film that won four Oscars.

One of the “Oscars” was received thanks to the music of Vangelis Papatanasiou.

However, the subsequent life story of Eric Lindell was itself a script for the film. This is a movie released in 2016 called On the Wings of Eagles.

After the 1924 Olympics, the Scottish gold medalist entered and starred in some athletics events, but by now his love of religion had begun to overshadow his love of sport.

In 1925 he returned to China because he wanted, like his parents, to continue the rest of his life as a missionary. Initially, he worked at an Anglo-Chinese school for wealthy students because he believed that by teaching Christian values ​​to financially wealthy children, when they grow up, they will move into the bourgeoisie.

In later years, he competed in some competitions in China, but he essentially used the sport to get closer to society.

When asked why he left the championship, he replied: “Contribution to the life of one’s neighbor matters more.” Eric Lindell married Florine Mackenzie, a member of the Canadian mission, and they had three children.

In 1941, the British government called on its citizens to leave China. Lindell’s family moved to Canada, but he did not want to leave missionary work and went to Xiaozhang, where his brother served as a doctor.

Life there was difficult and became even more difficult when the Japanese took over the mission station. In 1943, Lindell would be imprisoned in a camp where survival was… very close to death.

The Olympian continued to teach the Bible there, and at the same time he repeatedly clashed with those who sold products on the “black market”. Cellmates described him as a man who “despite adversity did not lose his smile and always tried to help all those in need.”

Lindell died on February 21, 1945. Malnutrition, overwork and a brain tumor sapped the body of “Scotland’s fastest runner”. Sources say that he was offered to leave the internment camp, but he chose to give his place to a pregnant woman. In 1991, a plaque was installed at his burial site with the inscription from the Bible verse: “They will fly on wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired.

The life of Eric Lindell, in addition to “Fire Roads”, also served as an inspiration for the film “The Life of Eric Lindell”.

Source: Olympics.com