第一位长期居住在中国并献出生命的奥运金牌得主是谁？

有一部体育影片叫Chariots Of Fire(烈火战车)，是54届奥
斯卡最佳影片。剧本根据二十年代两个青年短跑选手──艾力克．利德尔（Eric Liddell）
和哈罗德·亚伯拉罕（ Harold M. Abrahams）为参加1924年在巴黎举行德奥林匹克
运动会而刻苦锻炼、终于取得冠军的真实故事编写而成。前几天，在“海外校园”
杂志上读到一篇题为“在力与形之上──信仰思辨中的北京奥运”一文，也提到了
艾力克．利德尔。

“更高，更快，更强！”现代奥林匹克之父顾拜旦，借用巴黎阿奎埃尔修道院院长
迪东之语，点睛式地指出了从古至今的奥林匹克基本精神，那就是超越的精神。

就像电影里描述的一样，1924年，巴黎奥运会上，发生了一件意义甚至超过了奥运
会自身的事件。这就是原本被田径界和媒体最为看好的英国运动员，剑桥大学学生，
艾力克．利德尔，因为坚持在主日参加教会的崇拜，而决定退出于礼拜天上午举行
的男子百米决赛。

此举等于是将垂手可得的金牌拱手让人。因此有许多人一直劝告他说，若是拿到金
牌，不仅可以荣耀国家，更可以荣耀上帝，甚至是当时的英国王子也来劝他参加比
赛。但是他心意已决，并告诉王子他绝不参加比赛。“国家、国王也都是上帝所造”。
后来英国队四百米选手林赛勋爵主动把自己参加四百米赛的权利让给了艾力克．利
德尔，因为那场比赛不在安息日举行。利德尔在最短时间内刻苦锻炼耐力。比赛时，
利德尔不仅夺得四百米赛冠军，而且打破了这个项目的世界纪录。

艾力克．利德尔放弃决赛走向教堂，他以自己对金牌的超越，指明奥林匹克的超越
渊源──奥林匹克的真正精神不是竞技，而是超越（包括超越冠军）。他向世人展示了
什么才是真正的超越！

值得一提的是，这个故事的主角，却将奥运金牌以及剑桥大学学位所带来的荣誉、
金钱、机会，抛在身后。在获得奥运金牌的次年，他听从基督的呼召，回到中国，
在河北、山西、河南，向中国的老百姓，传扬那位带领他走到比金牌更高之处的基
督。


在日本侵占中原之后，他仍然遵循基督的榜样，与所爱的中国老百姓共患难，甚至
在集中营里，还将那双系著至高荣誉的运动鞋，送给了一个同被关押的普通中国少
年。他看重一位赤著脚的囚徒，远超过金牌的荣耀，他以爱，让生命超越了荣誉。
最后1945年2月21日，他在潍坊集中营殉难（年仅42岁）。

这是一个内在精神超越了外在运动的运动员，正因为有这样的运动员，奥林匹克才
成为伟大的运动；这是真正的奥林匹克英雄，因为他在奥林匹克运动中，展示了比
运动员更大的身分──具有灵魂的人。这就是真正的奥林匹克精神，以外在的运动，
来彰显永恒生命的超越与荣耀。

During the summer of 1924, the Olympics were hosted by the city of Paris. Liddell was a committed Christian and refused to run on Sunday (the Christian Sabbath), with the consequence that he was forced to withdraw from the 100 metres race, his best event. The schedule had been published several months earlier, and his decision was made well before the Games began. Liddell spent the intervening months training for the 400 metres, an event in which he had previously excelled. Even so, his success in the 400m was largely unexpected. The day of 400 metres race came, and as Liddell went to the starting blocks, an American masseur slipped a piece of paper into Liddell's hand with a quotation from 1 Samuel 2:30, "Those who honour me I will honour." Liddell ran with that piece of paper in his hand. He not only won the race, but broke the existing world record with a time of 47.6 seconds. A few days earlier Liddell had competed in the 200 metre finals, for which he received the bronze medal behind Americans Jackson Scholz and Charles Paddock, beating Harold Abrahams, who finished in sixth place. (This was the second and last race in which these two runners met.)

（择要翻译如下：1924年夏季奥运会在巴黎举行。利德尔作为一名虔诚的基督徒，拒绝参加在周日举行的百米比赛，

His performance in the 400 metres in Paris remained a world record for four years, and a European record for 12 years, until it was beaten by another British athlete, Godfrey Brown, at the Berlin Olympics.

After the Olympics and his graduation, Liddell continued to compete. Shortly after the 1924 Olympics, his final leg on the 4 x 400 metres race in a British Empire vs. USA contest helped secure the victory. A year later, in 1925, at the Scottish Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) meeting in Hampden Park in Glasgow, he equalled his own Scottish championship record of 10.0 seconds in the 100 yards, won the 220 yard contest in 22.2 seconds, won the 440 yard contest in 47.7, and participated in a winning relay team. He was only the fourth athlete ever to have won all three sprints at the SAAA, achieving this feat twice: in 1924 and 1925.