Medal record Harold Abrahams Men's athletics Competitor for  United Kingdom Olympic Games Gold 1924 Paris 100 metres Silver 1924 Paris 4x100 m relay Harold Maurice Abrahams, CBE, (15 December 1899 – 14 January 1978)1 was a Jewish British athlete. He was Olympic champion in 1924 in the 100 metres sprint, a feat depicted in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire. Contents 1 Biography 2 Personal life 3 Honours 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Biography Abrahams's father Isaac had emigrated to England from Russian Poland. He worked as a financier and settled in Bedford with his Welsh wife Ester.1 Harold was born in Bedford, and was the younger brother of another British athlete, the Olympic long jumper Sir Sidney Abrahams. Another brother, Sir Adolphe Abrahams, became the founder of British sport medicine. Harold was educated at Bedford School, Repton School1 and then at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge from 1920 to 1924, before training as a lawyer. At Cambridge, he was a member of the Cambridge University Athletics Club (of which he was president 1922–1923),2 Cambridge University Liberal Club3 the Pitt Club,2 and the Gilbert and Sullivan Society.4 Before going to Cambridge he served as a lieutenant in the British Army.1

A sprinter and long jumper since his youth, he continued to compete in sport while at Cambridge. He earned a place in the 1920 Olympic team,1 but was eliminated in the quarter-finals of both the 100 m and 200 m, and finished 20th in the long jump.1 He was also part of the British relay team that took fourth place in the 4 x 100 m. Though he dominated British long jump and sprint events, Abrahams was considered a long shot for medals at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, France. However Eric Liddell5 introduced Abrahams to a professional coach, Sam Mussabini,6 whom Abrahams, with the encouragement of his brother, employed. For six months, Mussabini at Abrahams's direction emphasized the 100 m, with the 200 m as secondary. Through vigorous training, Abrahams perfected his start, stride, and form. One month before the 1924 Games, he set the English record in the long jump 24 feet 2½ inches (7.3787 m), a record which stood for the next 32 years.1 The same day he ran the 100 yard in 9.6 seconds, but the time was not submitted as a record, because the track was on a slight downhill.7

At the 1924 Summer Games, Abrahams won the 100 m in a time of 10.6 seconds, beating all the American favourites, including the 1920 gold-medal winner Charlie Paddock.1 (In third place was Arthur Porritt, later Governor-General of New Zealand and Queen's Surgeon. The Paris Olympics 100 m dash took place at 7 p.m. on 7 July 1924, and Abrahams and Porritt dined together at 7 p.m. on 7 July every year thereafter, until Abrahams's death in 1978.) In the 200 m race, Abrahams reached the final, placing sixth and last.1 (Liddell also ran the 200m and finished third.) As an opening runner for the 4 x 100 m team, Abrahams won a second Olympic medal, a silver. He did not compete in the long jump. In May 1925, Abrahams broke his leg while long-jumping, ending his athletic career.1 He returned to his legal career. In 1928, he was team captain of the British Olympic team at Amsterdam and editor of the Official British Olympic Report for the same games.1 Subsequently he worked as an athletics journalist for forty years, becoming a commentator on the sports for BBC radio. In 1936, he reported the Berlin Olympics for the BBC. Later in his life, he also became the president of the Jewish Athletic Association, and served as the chairman for the Amateur Athletic Association.

Abrahams wrote a number of books, including The Olympic Games, 1896-1952 and The Rome Olympiad, 1960.1 He was the timekeeper for Roger Bannister's historic four-minute mile.1 Abrahams died in Enfield on 14 January 1978, aged 78. He was buried at Saint John the Baptist Churchyard in Great Amwell, Hertfordshire.8 Buried in the same grave is his wife Sybil Evers (19 June 1904 – 24 June 1963).9 Personal life Abrahams converted to Catholicism in 1934.1011 In 1936 he married D'Oyly Carte mezzo-soprano Sybil Evers (misidentified in the movie Chariots of Fire as Sybil Gordon), whom he met in 1935.1213 Abrahams and Evers had one adopted son, and one adopted daughter, Susan, who married anti-nuclear activist Pat Pottle.14 Honours Daughter Sue Pottle unveiling the English Heritage Blue Plaque commemorating Abrahams. Abrahams has been recognised with an English Heritage Blue Plaque at his former home in Golders Green in northwest London, which was unveiled by his daughter Sue Pottle (wife of Pat Pottle) and nephew Tony Abrahams. Abrahams lived at Hodford Lodge, 2 Hodford Road, from 1923 to 1930, years during which he achieved his greatest successes.

Abrahams was immortalised in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, in which he was played by English actor Ben Cross. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. His memorial service serves as the framing device for the movie, which tells his story and that of Liddell's. Abrahams was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1981 and into the England Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009. The late Guinness Book of World Records founder Norris McWhirter once commented that Abrahams "managed by sheer force of personality and with very few allies to raise athletics from a minor to a major national sport". Reflecting in 1948 on Abrahams' athleticism, Philip Noel-Baker, Britain's 1912 Olympic captain and a Nobel Prize winner, wrote: I have always believed that Harold Abrahams was the only European sprinter who could have run with Jesse Owens, Joe Candito, Ralph Metcalfe, and the other great sprinters from the U.S. He was in their class, not only because of natural gifts — his magnificent physique, his splendid racing temperament, his flair for the big occasion — but because he understood athletics and had given more brainpower and more will power to the subject than any other runner of his day.7 See also Achilles Club Evelyn Aubrey Montague List of select Jewish track and field athletes References ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Kebric, Robert B (2002) [1992]. Dawson, Dawn P. ed. Great Athletes. 1 (Revised ed.). Salem Press. pp. 11–13. ISBN 1-58765-008-8.  ^ a b Who Was Who - Volume VII - 1971–1980 ^ Name * (14 August 2009). "Harold Abrahams, 1899-1978 « Keynes Society". Keynessociety.wordpress.com. http://keynessociety.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/harold-abrahams-1899-1978/. Retrieved 31 January 2011.  ^ Hugh Hudson's commentary to the 2005 Chariots of Fire DVD ^ "BBC biography of Eric Liddell". Bbc.co.uk. 16 January 1902. http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/sportscotland/asportingnation/article/0019/print.shtml. Retrieved 31 January 2011.  ^ "Olympics 2000". Sporting Life. http://www.sportinglife.com/olympics/best_of_british/story_get.dor?STORY_NAME=others/00/08/22/OLYMPICS_Abrahams.html. Retrieved 31 January 2011.  ^ a b "Uc_Hilal : Jews In Sports @ Virtual Museum". Jewsinsports.org. 14 January 1978. http://www.jewsinsports.org/olympics.asp?ID=511. Retrieved 31 January 2011.  ^ Harold Abrahams (1899–1978) at Find A Grave ^ Monumental Inscriptions of Great Amwell M.I.16 published by the Hertfordshire Family History Society (1987) ^ Frymer, Murray. San Jose Mercury, 30 October 1981, p. 45. ^ "Harold Abrahams – Chariots of Fire Athlete." BygoneDerbyshire.co.uk ^ Rosen, Karen. "The Real Chariots of Fire: Hollywood Took Liberties with Gold Medalist's Life." Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 13, 1995. ^ Chapman, James. Past and Present: National Identity and the British Historical Film. London: I.B. Tauris, 2005. p. 292. ^ Oxbury, Harold. Great Britons: Twentieth-Century Lives. Oxford University Press, 1985. p. 2. External links Harold Abrahams at Sports-Reference.com Database Olympics – 1924 Summer Olympics Listed at Jewish Sports Photo of grave of Sybil and Harold Abrahams England Athletics Hall of Fame citation v · d · eOlympic Champions in Men's 100 m

1896: Tom Burke (USA)  • 1900: Frank Jarvis (USA)  • 1904: Archie Hahn (USA)  • 1908: Reggie Walker (RSA)  • 1912: Ralph Craig (USA)  • 1920: Charlie Paddock (USA)  • 1924: Harold Abrahams (GBR)  • 1928: Percy Williams (CAN)  • 1932: Eddie Tolan (USA)  • 1936: Jesse Owens (USA)  • 1948: Harrison Dillard (USA)  • 1952: Lindy Remigino (USA)  • 1956: Bobby Joe Morrow (USA)  • 1960: Armin Hary (GER)  • 1964: Bob Hayes (USA)  • 1968: Jim Hines (USA)  • 1972: Valeri Borzov (URS)  • 1976: Hasely Crawford (TRI)  • 1980: Allan Wells (GBR)  • 1984: Carl Lewis (USA)  • 1988: Carl Lewis (USA)  • 1992: Linford Christie (GBR)  • 1996: Donovan Bailey (CAN)  • 2000: Maurice Greene (USA)  • 2004: Justin Gatlin (USA)  • 2008: Usain Bolt (JAM) v · d · eInter-War British Olympic Champions in Men's Athletics 1920: Albert Hill (800 m & 1500 m) | 1920: Percy Hodge (3000 m steeplechase) | 1924: Harold Abrahams (100 m) | 1924: Eric Liddell (400 m) | 1924 & 1928: Douglas Lowe (800 m) | 1928: David Burghley (400 m hurdles) | 1932: Tommy Hampson (800 m) | 1932: Thomas Green (50 km walk) | 1936: Harold Whitlock (50 km walk) Persondata Name Abrahams, Harold Alternative names Short description Date of birth 1899 Place of birth Date of death 1978 Place of death