English Heritage Blue Plaque for Olympic Athlete Harold Abrahams

Olympic gold medallist Harold Abrahams (1899 - 1978), the determined Jewish athlete portrayed in Hugh Hudson’s Chariots of Fire, will be commemorated with an English Heritage Blue Plaque at Hodford Lodge, 2 Hodford Road, London, NW11, at 12.30pm on 17 May 2007.   Abrahams lived at this address from 1923 - 1930 and intermittently until his marriage in 1936. It was during this time that Abrahams enjoyed his greatest success in his athletic career, winning his famous gold medal at the 1924 Olympics and captaining the British Athletic Team at the 1928 Olympics. The Plaque will be unveiled by Harold’s nephew, Tony Abrahams, and Chairman of the British Olympic Foundation, John James, will be speaking at the unveiling.

Born and brought up in Bedford, Abrahams moved to London around 1914 and after a brief spell at St Paul’s he attended Repton.  Inspired by the athletic achievements of his brother Sidney, a fine long jumper who competed in the Olympics of 1906 and 1912, Abrahams went on to win Repton’s long jump championships in 1918.  At Cambridge, where he read law, Harold continued his sporting successes and was immediately selected for the 1920 Olympic Games at Antwerp. He went on to win 8 victories at the 100 yards, 440 yards and long jump in the annual Oxford versus Cambridge competitions of 1920-1923. It was after this that Harold began concentrating on sprints, through vigorous training under the watchful eye of his personal coach, Sam Mussabini.

By this point Abrahams was at the top of his form.  He set four British records at the long jump from 7.19 metres in 1923 to 7.38 metres in 1924, which remained the record for thirty years.  At the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) championship of 1924, Abrahams won the 100 yards in 9.9 seconds.

However, it was at the 1924 Paris Olympics Games that Abrahams undoubtedly sealed his reputation as a sporting great.  It was here that he won a silver medal in the 4x100 metre and finished sixth place in the finals of the 200 metre race.  Above all, Abrahams is remembered for the 100 metre race, where, in the second round, he equalled the Olympic record with 10.6 seconds, and in the semi-final achieved the same time, triumphing over American world record holder Charles Paddock. In the final, Abrahams came through first, again with the time of 10.6 seconds.  Incredibly, Abrahams thus set three Olympic record-equalling performances in the space of twenty-six hours, and became the first European to win an Olympic sprint title; he is known to have observed not infrequently how extraordinary it was that 10.6 seconds changed his life so dramatically. Harold’s achievements at the games were immortalised in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire.

In May 1925 Abrahams broke his leg whilst attempting to improve on his English long jump record; the injury prematurely ended his athletic career, and he turned back to law, practising as a barrister of the Inner Temple until the 1940’s. He also excelled at journalism and sports administration as athletics correspondent for the Sunday Times (1926-67) and a radio broadcaster for the BBC (1924-74). He served as Honorary Treasurer (1948-68) and Chairman (1948-75) of the British Amateur Athletics Board, and served on the General Committee of the AAA from 1926, becoming Secretary in 1931 and President in 1976. Abraham’s work led to a transformation of the rules of the International Amateur Athletics Federation. Whilst residing at Hodford Road he wrote a number of books, including Sprinting (1925), Training for Athletics (1928) and Oxford versus Cambridge (1931).

It has been written by Norris McWhirter, a colleague and friend of Harold Abrahams, that he “managed by sheer force of personality and with very few allies to raise athletics from a minor to a major national sport”. By the time of the Second World War, Abrahams was widely recognised as a major figure in the athletics establishment, and is today remembered as one of the most famous Olympians of all time.

For further information about English Heritage Blue Plaques visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/blueplaques