{"id":2999,"date":"2008-08-13T16:34:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-13T16:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/the-first-chinese-olympic-star.html"},"modified":"2008-08-13T16:34:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-13T16:34:00","slug":"the-first-chinese-olympic-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/the-first-chinese-olympic-star.html","title":{"rendered":"The first “Chinese” Olympic star"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the world watches in fascination the Olympics in Beijing, Asia News<\/a> has taken a moment to remind us of the original<\/i> Chinese champion, who gained fame more recently from the movie “Chariots of Fire.” (Okay now: everyone start humming the theme…da dum da dee dum dum…) <\/p>\n

Take a look: <\/p>\n

Not everyone may know that the first “Chinese” athlete to win an Olympic medal was a Scotsman born in China. He was Eric Liddell, the son of Presbyterian missionaries, born in Tianjin in 1902. After his Olympic victory in 1924 in Paris – which inspired the film “Chariots of Fire” – Liddell (whose Chinese name is Li Airui) returned to China, where he worked as a Presbyterian missionary, until his death in a Japanese prison camp in 1945.<\/p>\n

<\/a> Liddell remained in China until the was five years old, then moved to Scotland, where he studied near Edinburg. He became a great athlete (cricket, rugby, and running), and participated in the Paris Olympics in 1924. But since the 100 meter race – in which he would have made his best time – was scheduled for a Sunday, he declined to participate, because of his strict and solid religious upbringing.<\/p>\n

According to some witnesses, it seems that the king of England himself tried to convince him to compete, in the name of “national pride”, but he declined because “the commandments of God come before national honor. I will not run on Sunday”.<\/p>\n

Liddell trained for the 400 meter race, which he won with a record time of 47.6 seconds, receiving the gold medal.<\/p>\n

After his victory, he received a degree in science and returned to Tianjin as a teacher, first in the Anglo-Chinese school, and then in a school for the poor.<\/p>\n

In 1941, when war was already underway between China and Japan, he sent his wife and daughters to Canada because of the danger, but remained in China himself to teach in Shaochang. In 1943, Shaochang was conquered by the Japanese, and Liddell was interned in a camp in Weifang, where he tried to help the elderly and sick, and taught children.<\/p>\n

Eric Liddell died on February 21, 1945. A few months earlier, prime minister Winston Churchill obtained the liberation of some of the prisoners, and the famous athlete should have been one of them, but he gave up his place to a pregnant prisoner.<\/p>\n

His last words were: “It’s complete surrender”. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the world watches in fascination the Olympics in Beijing, Asia News has taken a moment to remind us of the original Chinese champion, who gained fame more recently from the movie “Chariots of Fire.” (Okay now: everyone start humming the theme…da dum da dee dum dum…) Take a look: Not everyone may know that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-and-that"],"yoast_head":"\nThe first "Chinese" Olympic star - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/the-first-chinese-olympic-star.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The first "Chinese" Olympic star - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While the world watches in fascination the Olympics in Beijing, Asia News has taken a moment to remind us of the original Chinese champion, who gained fame more recently from the movie “Chariots of Fire.” (Okay now: everyone start humming the theme…da dum da dee dum dum…) Take a look: Not everyone may know that…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/the-first-chinese-olympic-star.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-08-13T16:34:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SKNGfUv-BiI\/AAAAAAAACxE\/MYTNCPSF_nk\/s320\/bg0014_JPG%5B1%5D.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The first \"Chinese\" Olympic star - The Deacon's Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/the-first-chinese-olympic-star.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The first \"Chinese\" Olympic star - The Deacon's Bench","og_description":"While the world watches in fascination the Olympics in Beijing, Asia News has taken a moment to remind us of the original Chinese champion, who gained fame more recently from the movie “Chariots of Fire.” (Okay now: everyone start humming the theme…da dum da dee dum dum…) Take a look: Not everyone may know that…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/the-first-chinese-olympic-star.html","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2008-08-13T16:34:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SKNGfUv-BiI\/AAAAAAAACxE\/MYTNCPSF_nk\/s320\/bg0014_JPG%5B1%5D.jpg"}],"author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/the-first-chinese-olympic-star.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/the-first-chinese-olympic-star.html","name":"The first \"Chinese\" Olympic star - The Deacon's Bench","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/the-first-chinese-olympic-star.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/the-first-chinese-olympic-star.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SKNGfUv-BiI\/AAAAAAAACxE\/MYTNCPSF_nk\/s320\/bg0014_JPG%5B1%5D.jpg","datePublished":"2008-08-13T16:34:00+00:00","dateModified":"2008-08-13T16:34:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/5a7b3c6e9d155e382842aa310ff9b1ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/the-first-chinese-olympic-star.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/the-first-chinese-olympic-star.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/the-first-chinese-olympic-star.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SKNGfUv-BiI\/AAAAAAAACxE\/MYTNCPSF_nk\/s320\/bg0014_JPG%5B1%5D.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SKNGfUv-BiI\/AAAAAAAACxE\/MYTNCPSF_nk\/s320\/bg0014_JPG%5B1%5D.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/the-first-chinese-olympic-star.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The first “Chinese” Olympic star"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic Deacon Ponders the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/5a7b3c6e9d155e382842aa310ff9b1ee","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/114\/1144d939be636f641ea021e1d347f9fdx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/114\/1144d939be636f641ea021e1d347f9fdx96.jpg","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"description":"A Roman Catholic deacon serving the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, Greg Kandra is News Director for the diocese's cable channel, NET (New Evangelization Television.) Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}