Running with Fire : the True Story of Chariots of Fire Hero Harold Abrahams

437 Pages·2012·8.29 MB·English

by  Abrahams

RUNNING WITH FIRE
T T S ‘C F ’
HE RUE TORY OF HARIOTS OF IRE HERO
HAROLD ABRAHAMS
MARK RYAN
DEDICATION
To my son Luca, source of such joy. And to the children and
staff at Kimbolton St James’ C.E. Primary School in
Herefordshire, who also provided great inspiration during the
writing of this book.
CONTENTS
Title Page
Dedication
Foreword by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh

Prologue Usain Who?

Part I Gifted, Abused, Engaged And Crowned
Chapter One Left For Dead
Chapter Two Born To Run
Chapter Three A Jew At Repton
Chapter Four The Cambridge Freshman
Chapter Five From Queen’s To Antwerp
Chapter Six Christina
Chapter Seven A Pivotal Decision
Chapter Eight Running Scared Of Eric Liddell
Chapter Nine Great Bird And Old Sam
Chapter Ten Brainstorm At The Bridge
Chapter Eleven Paris
Chapter Twelve Lazarus And The Tower
Chapter Thirteen Now Or Never
Chapter Fourteen Liddell’s Reply

Part II Love, Hitler And London
Chapter One Falling Flat On His Face
Chapter Two A Pioneer’s Path To Sybil
Chapter Three Breakdown On The Road To Berlin
Chapter Four Fear And Accusation
Chapter Five Hitler, Owens And Lovelock
Chapter Six Undermining Adolf
Chapter Seven War
Chapter Eight London ’48 – The Future
Part III Bannister To Chariots
Chapter One Bannister
Chapter Two Stopwatch On Everest
Chapter Three The Fall-Out
Chapter Four Mirror Image
Chapter Five Drawing Up The Future
Chapter Six Tragedy Strikes
Chapter Seven Medals
Chapter Eight Talking Movies
Chapter Nine Chariot For ‘Mr Athletics’

Postscript: Celebrations

Acknowledgements

Appendix: Career Track And Field Record Of Harold Abrahams
– Highlights

Plates
Copyright
BUCKINGHAM PALACE.

I came to know Harold Abrahams when I was invited to
become President of the British Amateur Athletic Board in
1952. He served as both Chairman and Treasurer of the Board
between 1946 and 1975. I never played an ‘executive’ part in
the activities of the Board, but I had many hideous problems
involved in trying to administer such a diffuse collection of
fiercely independent athletic disciplines. His dedication to the
efficient administration of British athletics and his commitment
to the welfare and development of individual athletes was
complete.

The period in history during which Harold Abrahams was
involved in British athletics, both as a highly successful
competitor and as an administrator, covered the evolution of
both national and international athletic competition. The
pioneers were amateurs, but the growing popularity of
athletics, both as a sport and as a spectator event, created
massive strains for the administrators as they endeavoured to
cope with the transition from amateur status to ‘assisted
competitor’ status which allowed all talented athletes to
compete on equal terms.

I very much welcome this book which is a timely tribute to
one of the most influential figures in the creation and
development of athletic competition as we know it today.

PROLOGUE
USAIN WHO?
S
eptember 12, 2009, Hotel Capsis – Thessaloniki, Greece
Usain Bolt, fastest man in the world, strolls out of the first-
floor restaurant holding some golden track shoes. They’re a far
cry from the springy old pair of spikes preferred by the hero of
this book. But Bolt is the latest golden boy, he has the shoes to
match, and they glitter in the sunlight streaming through the
hotel windows.
Now is themoment. I approach the greatman and explain
that I’mwriting the biography of Harold Abrahams, the sprinter
from Chariots of Fire.
Usain looks blank.
‘Some people call him the father of modern sprinting,’ I
explain.
Bolt seems happy enough to listen. He isn’t making a break
for the nearby escalator. If he did, that would be it. No point
trying to catch him. He stays, but it’s a one-way conversation;
and after letting me ramble for a while, he starts to see the
funny side.
‘I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about, man,’ he smiles.
‘Well,’ I tell him, ‘Harold Abrahams was an Olympic 100
metres champion – just like you.’
‘Oh yeah, what year?’ asks Bolt, a little more interested.
‘In 1924,’ I reply.
Usain’s eyeballs drift northwest as if to say, ‘Ancient history,
man, no wonder I’ve never heard of the guy.’
But history can help a modern athlete. The London 2012
Olympic chief, Lord Coe, explains, ‘Smart athletes understand
the history of their sport, the genesis of the event and
evolution. That helped me during the big moments of my
career.’
Seb isn’t taking a pop at Bolt, they just think differently. The
Jamaican doesn’t have much appetite for a history lesson on
the day we meet, which is a little ironic, because Greece is
definitely the right country for Olympic history. This is where it
all began and Harold Abrahams, a true student of his sport,
wrote about the first race of the ‘modern’ era. It was the 100
metres – and Usain Bolt would have been tickled by the
winning time if nothing else.
Harold wrote:
On Easter Monday, April 6, 1896, just over 1,500 years after the Emperor
Theodosius had abolished the Olympic Festival, said to have been held since
776 B.C., the First Modern Olympic Meeting began with a heat of the 100
metres. The description of this historic occasion contained in an account of the
1896 Games is as follows:
‘The champions for the first race made their entrance by a subterranean
passage; they were lightly attired in a flannel shirt, short under-garments and
light canvas shoes … The interest of the public was fully excited when the
Champions entered the lists. After they had arranged themselves in a straight
line, ready to bounce forward, a pistol shot gave the signal for starting.
Onwards they ran, Mr Lane an American arrived first at the goal, having run
the race in 121⁄5 sec.
Forty years later, I watched the first race of the 1936 Games, also a heat of
the 100 metres. It was won in 10.7sec, while about half an hour after, Jesse
Owens won the twelfth heat and equalled the Olympic record of 10.3sec …’
Bolt knows all about Jesse Owens, whose granddaughter,
Marlene Dortch, presented Usain with his gold medal at the
2009 World Championships in Berlin. But Harold Abrahams, a
champion Owens respected and befriended, remains a mystery
to him. It’s a pity in a way, because Bolt became a global icon
partly due to men like Harold Abrahams, who pioneered the
broadcasting of athletics events, and brought the excitement of
races into homes around the world.
I ask Bolt something straight out, and the question is a little
provocative. ‘Do you think the old Olympic champions should
be respected?’
‘Of course we should respect them,’ Usain says without
hesitation. Then he reflects for a moment – and this is the first
time he is really engaging in the conversation. ‘I’m going to be
an old Olympic champion one day, and I will want to be
respected.’
Somehow Bolt is maintaining a healthy perspective on what
is happening to him in this, his most extraordinary of years. At
the time of our brief exchange, he has just brought the 100
metres world record down to 9.58. The record books say he is
over a second faster than Harold Abrahams ever was. His
speed seems to know no limits, the whole planet loves him. My
4-year-old son Luca kisses his face when it pops up on the TV
screen, and there are kids like Luca all over the world. From
these youngsters will come the next generation of great
athletes – and somewhere among them is the next Usain Bolt.
Yet here he is, the man of the moment, at the height of his
fame, suddenly contemplating old age and the distant
possibility of an era when people might not know who the hell
he is either. ‘Yes, I’ll want to be respected too. So it’s important
to respect past champions,’ he repeats.
He looks thoughtful, as if pondering obscurity. Not too long
after we meet, Bolt asks fellow track legend Michael Johnson
what it feels like to retire. Usain might have been interested to
know that when Abrahams retired he was only twenty-five; and
the overwhelming emotion was relief. He was able to embark
on new adventures, some of them every bit as dramatic as the
old.
The Abrahams story didn’t stop at the 1924 Olympics in
Paris, though his running days alone were dramatic enough to
be immortalised in a film called Chariots of Fire. Harold’s
desire to attend Hitler’s Berlin Olympics of 1936, and the
controversy that caused, were just as remarkable. A Jewish
broadcaster with underlying psychological problems, Abrahams
ignored his critics to broadcast for the BBC with a defiant bias.
Did that represent a triumph for humanity, for lovable
imperfection, over the Nazi concept of a superhuman race? Or
did it expose a troubled man who ignored his roots to put
ambition first? Make up your own mind.
At the time of our meeting, Usain Bolt hasn’t seen Chariots
of Fire and he hasn’t heard of Harold Abrahams. No crime in
that, but it seems to have got him thinking. One day there’ll be