Written by John Keddie, a Scottish Minister who was an adviser on the 1981 Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire, the new book Running The Race claims to be the "definitive biography of Eric Liddell".

 

Liddell was immortalised in Chariots of Fire for missing out on the chance to win the Olympic 100 metres in Paris in 1924 because he refused to race on a Sunday due to his religious beliefs.

 

He instead entered the 400m and won that, even though he had never broken 50 seconds for the distance up until that year.

 

Coe has written the foreward for the new book and hopes that London 2012 will help make people remember Liddell.

 

Coe told insidethegames: "One of the side affects of winning the bid was not simply about getting more people to participate in sport.

 

"I also hope it gives us the opportunity to rekindle the memory of great sporting moments to the current generation of people like Eric because, beyond the film, they are not as aware of the achievements of people like him as they should be.

 

"This is someone who used sport in any number of ways to promote great causes".

 

After his Olympic triumph Liddell threw himself headlong into missionary work, moving to China in 1925, to Tientsin, where he was ordained a Minister in 1932.

 

In 1943 Liddell was interned by the Japanese authorities in a camp at Weishien and died two years later.

 

Running the Race - Eric Liddell is published by the Evangelical Press and costs £8.95. It can be ordered from www.evangelicalpress.org