V 14 N. 13 Horatio Fitch and the 100th Anniversary of "Chariots of Fire"

    

    Sometimes the story behind the story, behind the story is as interesting as the story.

  In yesterday's post, one of the respondents Mike Tymn mentioned that he had written an article in the Honolulu Advertiser about the American 400 meter runner Horatio Fitch who finished second to Eric Liddell in that race in the Paris Olympics of 1924.  Most of you will remember Liddell as one of the two heroes in the film  "Chariots of Fire", the other being Harold Abrahams who won the 100 meters. Fitch actually broke the 400 world record in the prelims.   It was only then that I realized that this year's Olympic Games to be held in Paris for the second time will also be the 100th anniversary of that first Games so depicted in the movie.  

     Mike's note set me off on a search to find his article.  With a weapon on my computer like Newspapers.com, that kind of search was not too difficult.  I tracked down Mike's story with a few strokes on my keyboard.  It appeared on February 23, 1984, forty years ago and then already sixty years after the race.  Mike was fortunate to find Fitch still alive and conscious in Colorado and get an interview.  He writes about some interesting aspects in those games, including the atmosphere and compares it to the how they were depicted somewhat differently in the film.  Ah, poetic license of directors and screen writers.   Fitch  describes some things in the film that just were not there in real life.   He also mentions how he was a bit befuddled by the  cords or lane separators strung along each lane line to keep the runners from drifting out of their lanes.  And he makes note of the reception of the athletes.  There was some confusion in the film giving the impression of 'docking' in Paris.  The ocean liners can't come up the Seine River.  So there was a train ride to finally arrive in Paris. Mike also mentioned that a member of the women's swimming team, a diver named Aileen  Riggin connected with Mike after reading the article and  noted  an  error in the film not in Mike's report,  and how he got to know her from that connection.  I will put that bit at the end of this post.  So here is that wonderful article by Mike Tymn written forty years ago this month.

tThis is a continuation of the article on another page and unfortunately cannot be maintained at same type size.

                                                      

Finish of the 400 meters 1924  from The Guardian

George,

 

I got to know Aileen Riggin fairly well during the last 20 years of her life.  We often lunched together.   Aileen won the gold medal in diving in 1920 and took silver (diving) and bronze (backstroke) in 1924.   After the Paris Olympics, she turned professional, which involved giving swimming and diving exhibitions around the country.  The stigma of turning professional was such that she could no longer enter the front doors of various sporting clubs.  She had to go in the back door. Much shame involved..

 

I got to know Aileen after the movie 'Chariots of Fire" was released.  I interviewed Horatio Fitch, who took second in that historic 400 at Paris, for the morning paper.  Aileen called me to correct something I wrote about those Olympics, but I don't recall what it was. See my photo of her attached.

 

Aloha!

 

Mike

         Aileen Riggins

I sent the article to Mike.  This was his reply.

George

I had not read my article for many years and I forgot about several things, including his (Fitch's)  fear of running into the lane separators.  I was trying to visualize running with those stakes and flags separating lanes and I can appreciate his concern about running into them.  Then, again, it may have helped them better pace themselves, i.e., not go out too fast. 

 

I was thinking Aileen's initial call had to do with the ship docking in Paris, but I don't know what she might have added to what Horatio already said. 

 

Aloha!

 

Mike

(My son recently watched the film with this "Paris docking" error in mind.  He notes that the scene clearly depicted it was Le Havre not Paris. So it must have been something else that got Aileen's attention)  ed.

George

Aileen's correction had something to do with the movie, not with my article, but I don't recall what it is was.  She was only 14 in 1920 and 18 for the Paris Olympics.  I recall that she told me she was  I infatuated with Charlie Paddock, but It was in 1920.  I don't recall if he made the team in 1924.    Attached photo is of her on victory stand in 1920.

 

Mike

An anonymous contributor added the following:

Looked Aileen Riggin up in the Wallechinsky Olympic book.  Both she and the silver medalist in diving in 1920 were 14 years old.   Aileen was all of 4'  7 inches and 65 lbs.  They had a chaperone but no coach go to the Olympics with them.  No hot showers also.  Competition was outdoor in a moat filled with cold muddy water.  Riggin's said the stress of competing was not her main concern.  She was worried about sticking in the mud at the bottom and not coming up due to getting stuck and no one would miss her and she would die a horrible drowning death.   The book has a picture of the two girls and the silver medalist, Helen Wainwright was heftier and quite a bit taller.

Riggin was 5^th in the 1920 platform  diving too.

From John Telford in Detroit, MI  former All American 440 runner for Wayne State University.

How the DNA must overlap in these two men, Telford and Liddell.  ed. 

What a wonderful article about the 1924 OLympic 400.   It brings back memories, because .  Eric Liddell was my father's cousin on his mother's side.    Liddell and my father--John "Scotty" Telford --were both born in Scotland in 1902.  Liddell stayed in Scotland, and my father came to America through Ellis Island with his parents Francis "Frank" Telford, Margaret Telford,  sisters Margaret and Letty, and brother Dan--and they became naturalized citizens.   A second brother--my uncle Frank--was born in this country.  I learned about Liddell's 1924 Olympic 400-meter victory from my grandmother in the early 1940s--long before the movie 'Chariots of Fire.' 

 THE BEST NON-RELAY TIME I EVER RECORDED WAS 45.9 AT THE 440-YARD DISTANCE RUNNING FROM SCRATCH IN THE WNY SCOTTISH GAMES IN WILLIAMSBURGH, NEW YORK IN THE SUMMER OF 1959--BUT I RAN UNDER ERIC'S 1924 FAMILY RECORD OF 47.6 FOR THE SLIGHTLY SHORTER METRIC DISTANCE SEVERAL OTHER TIMES AS WELL.   John Telford

George,

A special thanks for this post. My love of this movie and the inspiration it gives is only increased. May 2024 treat you well.   EARL YOUNG