Athletes all around the world dream of winning Olympic gold. It is the ultimate achievement, the pinnacle of success. Imagine you are at the top of your game, the best in the world, if only for a short while. But what do you do next? How do you top an experience that exhilarating? What else can command the single-minded focus and energy that was once given over to the dream of winning Olympic gold?

Few Olympians have responded to these questions as did Eric Liddell. Millions have seen the story of his Olympic triumph portrayed in the film Chariots of Fire, but the movie tells only a part of Eric's heroic story. Following his stunning victory in the Olympic 400-meter dash in Paris in 1924, Eric chose to follow God's call as a missionary in China. Here is the rest of his story.

After the Race
Eric returned from the Paris Olympics a national hero, but he did not choose to live the life of a professional athlete. The following year, at the age of 23, he returned to China, the land of his birth, to join his parents and his older brother Rob on the mission field. After 14 days on the Trans-Siberian Railway, Eric arrived at his destination. His first assignment was teaching at the Anglo-Chinese College in Tientsen. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he was also Sunday school superintendent at Union Church, where his father was the pastor.

Marriage in Mind
Before long, Florence Mackenzie caught Eric's eye. Under normal circumstances, Eric would have probably begun a traditional courtship, but circumstances were not normal. Florence was only seventeen years old (Eric was 27 at the time) and a senior in high school. Because he did not feel he could single her out, Eric befriended the whole senior class at Florence's school. This way, when he invited them to tea or an outing, his attentions to Florence would not appear suspicious.

That year, affection grew into love, and Eric asked Florence to marry him the following summer. She accepted, but the wedding would not occur for several years. That fall, Florence returned to Canada to begin her training as a nurse. While Flo was pursuing her education, Eric returned to Great Britain on furlough and was ordained as a minister in July of 1932. Following his ordination, he spent six weeks with Flo and her family in Toronto, and their wedding date was set for March 1934. By September of 1932, Eric had returned to Tientsen.

Two Names in a Hat
Two years passed quickly, and Eric and Flo were married at Union Church in Tientsen on March 27, 1934. Patricia Liddell was born about a year later, and Heather joined her older sister Patricia within two years of her parents' marriage.

Florence Liddell was fond of recounting the story of how Heather got her name. Although Eric wanted to name his daughter Heather after the purple flowering shrub that grew in his native Scotland, Flo was less than enthusiastic about the name. Eric offered to solve the dilemma by putting both his choice and Flo's into a hat. They agreed that their daughter's name would be whichever was drawn from the hat. When the name "Heather" was drawn, Flo stood by their agreement and announced that would be their daughter's name. But Eric could not keep a straight face. He reached into the hat and withdrew the other slip of paper, which also had "Heather" written on it!

What is sometimes missed in talking about Eric the athlete or Eric the missionary is his sense of humor and deep devotion to his family. His oldest daughter, Patricia, once stated that the most important thing she remembered about her parents was their great sense of joy together.