So Where Does the Strength to Keep Running Come From? Diasporic Conditions and Olympic Facialities in Hugh Hudson’s Chariots of Fire

Abstract

In 1917, Baron Pierre de Coubertin states in his doctrinal writings, that one of the noblest goals of Olympics “is by excellence, the glorification of youth”. In 1924, Paris hosted the 8th Olympic Games of modern times, in which the motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius” oscillated between the individual will of victory and the pragmatic joints of countries in search of collective and collaborative victories. In this brief study, given its initial framework, we will address the now classic film narrative Chariots of fire (1981), by Hugh Hudson, as it conveys the characterization of the English Delegation in the 1924 Olympic Games. A tense multicultural background distinguishes this group of young athletes, as well as their support teams, with emphasis on substrates marked by two diasporic athletes, the “Flying Scotsman” and the son of a London-based Jewish banker. We reflect on these two lines of political and cultural strength that, among other factors, account for both the conformity to tradition and the dialectic faciality of a heterogeneous and contradictory nationality, which has had constant and successful presence in several modern Olympic Games.