Olympics Hopefuls Songs of Praise


Olympics Hopefuls

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14,000 competitors...

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..from over 200 nations.

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An audience of billions...

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and the never-ending quest for faster, higher, stronger.

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For the first time in a lifetime it's coming to these shores,

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so this week, Songs Of Praise gets ready

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for the greatest show on Earth.

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With the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

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just around the corner,

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we celebrate with great hymns from the Olympic borough of Greenwich.

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We'll catch up with some of Team GB's elite athletes

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and we've inspirational readings from star of Chariots Of Fire,

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Nigel Havers.

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I'm sure I wasn't the only one who watched the Olympic Games

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as a kid on television and dreamed of one day being an Olympic champion.

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The sad news is, my own sporting career peaked at the age of 12

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and very little has been written about it.

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But as a presenter, I've had the privilege of covering

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some of the biggest sporting events in the world.

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And they don't come much bigger than the Olympic Games.

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For both sets of Games,

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London has been split into six Olympic boroughs.

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We're in one of them, Greenwich,

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and you might recognise the grand buildings

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of the Old Royal Naval College.

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It's a place with surprising sporting pedigree.

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Henry VIII jousted here and built tennis courts and a bowling alley,

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and recent excavation work has unearthed some fascinating finds.

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Old sporting equipment from the period

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when this site was a Royal Hospital For Seamen,

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where the disabled veterans played a series of fiercely competitive games in the grounds.

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And soon, people from all over the world will be coming here

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to see the 2012 equestrian events just across the road.

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The chapel behind me is already a popular tourist attraction.

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Many come here for a peek and a wander,

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but it's also a thriving place of worship,

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and the setting for all our hymns on Songs Of Praise this week.

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We'll kick off with Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.

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This is the Lee Valley specialist training facility in London.

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It's a second home to many Team GB athletes,

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including sprinter Anyika Onuora.

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-ANNOUNCER:

-'And Onoura's going to take this.'

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We met up with her during her final preparations

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for the most important races of her life.

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It's pressure but it's a good pressure.

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You have uncertainty and doubt and that's OK.

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That's never a bad thing.

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I'm sure someone who does the average nine to five has an off day,

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but it's how you pick yourself up,

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remembering God never took you this far to fail you.

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It's my gift given from him,

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so my gift back is to make sure I become one of the best in the world.

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We know you've got a strong Christian faith.

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I just wondered how you square that. When you're on the track,

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how does that sit with that ultra-competitive edge

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that you've clearly got?

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You want to melt the person next to you!

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I want to melt them, take them out, do whatever I can to destroy them.

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I have that edge, that competitive edge,

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but also the faith that helps me.

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He's just there to help you along the way,

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and to hopefully watch you achieve what is that you're trying to do.

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Marilyn Okoro is also based at Lee Valley.

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She's an 800 metre specialist,

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but has a shot at Olympic glory in the women's 4x400 relay team.

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I'm so excited to have an Olympics in, essentially, my home town.

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I can quite easily be at the centre

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from nine in the morning till six in the evening.

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It's a massive sacrifice for me.

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I don't get to spend a lot of time with my loved ones

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and people I really want to spend time with.

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But I really felt I was called to do what I'm doing on tracks.

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You said you called to do what you're doing.

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How important is your faith in God

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to who you are now and who you are when you're on the track?

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My faith is massive. God is at the centre of it all.

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I really believe if not for him I wouldn't be doing this.

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Where he's brought me from to this is just amazing,

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and I just feel like I am a testament of his grace over my life.

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Do you pray to win or do you pray to compete well?

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I used to pray to win all the time.

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"Lord, please let me win. Amen, thanks."

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Erm... Yeah, but it doesn't work like that.

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-ANNOUNCER:

-'Marilyn Okoro, she's really going to have to work hard.'

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There's been so many up and downs,

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and challenges and I've wanted to walk away so many times,

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and that's when my faith really became massive.

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It was like, "Are you going to believe who Christ says you are,

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"or are you just going to let this take over?"

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I would love to win a medal,

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but if all I do in this team is just let one other person find Christ,

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I'm happy with that as well.

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Filmmakers have tried for decades to immortalise sporting heroes,

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often with mixed results.

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After all, there's nothing quite like live sport.

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But for me, there's one film that stands out above all others,

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an Oscar-winning masterpiece

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charting the story of a rather special Scotsman.

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The music wasn't bad either.

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Be honest, at some stage we've all been inspired

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to try a little slow motion running.

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MUSIC: Theme from "Chariots Of Fire"

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Chariots Of Fire charts the progress of two British sprinters

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preparing for the 1924 Olympic Games,

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Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell.

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A strong Christian, Eric refused to run in the 100 metres,

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his favoured event, as the heats were run on a Sunday.

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Instead, he ran in the 400 metres and won gold.

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The Eric Liddell story has inspired many over the years,

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but for me, it's not so much what he achieved on the track,

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but the Christian life he lived off it.

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He spent much of his later life as a missionary in China,

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but it was here at Eltham College where he was educated,

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just a stone's throw from Greenwich.

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We are quite literally looking for Eric.

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So where is he, fellas?

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Here he is. He was captain of the cricket in 1919.

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Skipper in the middle, obviously.

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Yeah. He's...

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-There with his brother.

-OK. This is his eldest brother.

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I think the great thing about Eric Liddell

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is that you hear about his story from day one.

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When I joined in Year Three, everyone would sit in the pews at the front

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and look at the stained-glass window.

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I think, obviously, it's incredible that you can firstly be an Olympian,

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but the fact that you can sacrifice potential success,

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obviously he didn't run on the Sunday, he didn't run the 110 yards,

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he was willing to sacrifice his success

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just to prove how strong his faith was.

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And to say, "Look, I'm not running, that's the way I'm going to do it.

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"I'll run the 400 if I have to."

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I think that also shows the selfless nature of Eric Liddell.

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And in his later life, he went out to China to do missionary work,

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which is a very selfless thing to do.

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He's leaving everything he knows behind, to a foreign country.

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And it shows how selfless he is.

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His brother was a brilliant athlete, as well.

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I remember looking at the records

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and he was only 16, his brother was 18.

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And they held every record for every event.

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First and second, first and second.

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It's just amazing that they have stood for such a long time, as well.

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I've been reliably informed you're a bit of a speedster,

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so how close to the 110 yards do you get?

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I'm nowhere near the standard of Eric Liddell.

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You've got a bit of work to do?

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I've still got a lot of work to do, actually.

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Character-wise, as well.

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If you come to school at Eltham College, which has its heritage

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and you're educated in the context of Eric Liddell and his values,

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it's not the sort of thing you forget.

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Eric Liddell was just a fantastic man.

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You've been taught to live your life the way Eric Liddell lived his.

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Model ours around his.

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He wouldn't approve of us saying that

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because he would want us to say we should live our life like Christ.

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But if we could get close to Eric Liddell,

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that would be great as well.

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Have you not known?

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Have you not heard?

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The everlasting God, the Lord,

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the creator of the ends of the earth,

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neither faints nor is weary.

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His understanding is unsearchable.

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He gives power to the weak.

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And to those who have no might,

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he increases strength.

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Even the youths shall faint and be weary.

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And the young men shall utterly fall.

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But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.

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They shall mount up with wings like eagles.

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They shall run and not be weary.

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They shall walk and not faint.

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The winner of Year Seven 100 metres and 200 metres...

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Eric Liddell's spirit lives on in Eltham College,

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not least at the annual sports day, where he first showed his running talents.

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But this year, they welcomed a very special guest.

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Patricia Liddell Russell is the eldest daughter of Eric Liddell,

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and she made a rare visit to the UK from her home in Canada

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to present the sports day prizes

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and share her memories with Songs of Praise.

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The last time I saw him, I was actually six-years-old.

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And people say, how can you remember anything from six?

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But I remember that summer in Scotland

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as, er...one of the most wonderful summers that we've ever had.

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And he... SHE CHUCKLES

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He was lots of fun. He was lots of fun.

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He had a winning personality.

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People just loved him.

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And his faith sort of shone out of him.

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He loved to run. He loved to run.

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And I think it expressed his joy of life.

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MUSIC: Theme from "Chariots of Fire"

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The film touches on the Olympics and the struggle,

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the difference between the two runners. The dynamics.

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But his real life began after the Olympics.

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And the important part.

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As my mother said, he very seldom spoke about the Olympics.

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It was great fun.

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But there were other things that had to be done

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that were more important.

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At the height of his fame, Eric left for China

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to follow in his family's footsteps as a missionary.

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Two decades later, the Second World War made China a dangerous place

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and Eric sent his wife and his young family to the safety of Canada.

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But he stayed behind. He continued to serve others,

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even when interned in a Japanese prison camp,

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before falling ill just months before the end of the war.

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I think he thought he'd had a nervous breakdown and this,

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this was distressing to him

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because he thought his faith should be strong enough to carry him through.

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And, of course, he had an extraordinary, extraordinary faith.

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But he had a brain tumour growing.

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And at the end, and they had a hospital there,

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and he asked the band, I think it was a Salvation Army band,

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to play his favourite hymn.

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And they played outside the window.

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Be Still My Soul, to the tune of Finlandia.

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This hymn has always been very special to us as a family.

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Somehow, it just brings us closer to him.

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MUSIC: "Be Still My Soul"

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I wish I'd known him more.

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I knew him through my mother and as a small child.

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But one of my sons said the other day,

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"Gosh, Mum, I wish I'd known him.

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"You know? I wish I had known him."

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And I said, "Don't we all."

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Yeah.

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A bronze medallist at the Paralympic World Cup,

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Anne Wafula Strike made history in 2004

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when she became the first wheelchair racer from East Africa

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to compete at the Paralympic Games.

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Having moved to the UK with her English husband,

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she now hopes to represent Team GB at London 2012.

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But when she was growing up in Kenya

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and learning to live with a disability from childhood polio,

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she didn't even know the Games existed.

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It's been a long journey, but, um...

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I mean, what I can say, it's been a blessing.

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It was very difficult growing up with a disability.

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Both for myself and my family.

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There was a lot of stigma attached to a disability in Africa

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and so many people thought I'd been bewitched.

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They thought it was witchcraft.

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And some people thought it was a punishment from God.

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You know, when I was growing up, I used to be very angry at God.

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But I look back and I say that

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God wanted me to go through that.

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I knew that I could still serve God.

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I could still tell the world that God loves us the way we are.

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Where did you start becoming interested?

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Where did you start to realise you had real talent for athletics?

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The year the Commonwealth Games were being held in Manchester.

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-2002?

-In 2002, yeah.

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And I remember sitting in my front room going through the channels

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and I saw these amazing women in their racing chairs.

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And I was, like, this is what I want to do.

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"I could do that."

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I said, I want to do that and I want to be competitive

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and I want to beat some of them.

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In 2004, I qualified to go to Athens.

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That was my first Paralympics.

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It was amazing.

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I mean, the atmosphere was just electrifying.

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I know that I'm not just defined by the medals,

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I'm not defined by how many world records I've broken.

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To me, every day is an achievement.

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Just for me to get on the start line,

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push and get to the finish line.

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It's an achievement.

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# Here's to the heroes

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# Those few who dare

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# Heading for glory

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# Living a prayer

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# Here's to the heroes

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# Who change our lives

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# Thanks to the heroes

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# Freedom survives

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# Here's to the heroes

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# Who never rest

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# They are the chosen

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# We are the blessed

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# Here's to the heroes

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# Who aim so high

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# Here's to the heroes

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# Who do or die

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# Here's to the heroes

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# Who aim so high

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# Here's to the heroes

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# Who do or die

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# Here's to the heroes

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# Who do

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# Or die. #

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Therefore we also,

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since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

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let us lay aside every weight,

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and the sin which so easily ensnares us,

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and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

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looking unto Jesus,

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the author and finisher of our faith.

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Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,

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despising the shame,

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and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

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You might be one of those

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who thinks the Olympic Games are just that, games.

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But there are times when sport can inspire like nothing else.

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And who knows how many of those magical moments we'll see in that very stadium

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and the other Olympic venues over the coming weeks.

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I'll let you in on a secret,

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I'm quite excited.

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Thanks for watching and goodbye.

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Next week, it's the final Olympic countdown.

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Aled will be taking a look around some of the Olympic venues

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before the crowds arrive and talking to rower Debbie Flood

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about going for gold this summer.

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All that, with the usual offering of fantastic music.

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