BANNED! How Gold Medalist Cecil Griffiths missed ‘The Chariots of Fire’ Olympics of 1924

As many athletes across the world wait to hear if they have been selected for the the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, one hundred years ago a young man from Neath in the South Wales valleys, who had won a gold medal at the 1920 Games in Antwerp, was informed that his dream of adding another medal to his tally  was over and that he had been banned for life from ever competing in an Olympic Games ever again and would miss what would later become known as
‘The Chariots of Fire Olympics’

The Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) had discovered that as a 17 year old, Cecil Griffiths had unwittingly accepted a few pounds as prize money in a charity event in his home town of Neath and as a result they deemed him, ‘No longer an amateur’ and banned him for life from ever competing for Great Britain on the international stage.

Cecil Griffiths born in Neath in 1900 into a working class family, was a ‘natural sportsman’ and played for the juniors at his local rugby club and also took part in junior running races, often organised as part of local fairs in the area. Due to the outbreak of the first world war in 1914, most sport was put on hold, but there were many fundraising events organised in aid of the war effort and were often advertised in the local press with promises of prizes in order to attract as many participants as possible and Griffiths took part in many of these.

As an 18 year old, he joined The Queen’s Westminster Rifles in 1918, a Territorial Regiment in London, organised by his uncle and this unquestionably kick-started his running career at the higher level representing the Army in a series of races, many of which he won. After the war he was approached by Surrey Athletic Club with the offer of a job and a place to live and as a result of his successes in the military, continued as a competitive athlete as The AAA considered their position on what to do with athletes who had competed for money during the war years. In 1919 at their AGM, they passed a resolution that in effect allowed an athlete who had been paid to compete to re join the amateur ranks and compete for Great Britain internationally in an Olympic Games, but only under ‘special circumstances’, which was very ambiguous as it didn’t explain what these circumstances were.

Griffiths competed in the AAA Championship, still relatively unknown and came third in the 440 yards behind Guy Butler from Cambridge University A.C. and as a result, although he was not part of the initial squad, was selected for the Great Britain team to compete at The Olympic Games in Antwerp in 1920, as part of a squad of 39 athletes in the 400metres and 4×400 metres relay.

Sadly he missed the 400 metres competition due to illness (his place taken by fellow Welshman Jack Ainsworth- Davis from Aberystwyth) but recovered  sufficiently to take his place in the relay team for the final where as the first runner he lay the foundations for victory with a 50.6 seconds lap.

When Butler broke the cord, the euphoria in the stadium reached a peak

explained John Hanna in his excellent biography, Only Gold Matters (2014) and then the team was overwhelmed by photographers.

By chance, they assembled shoulder to shoulder in height order, 6 foot 3 inch Guy Butler at one end, Jack Ainsworth Davis, Robert Lindsay and Griffiths, a head shorter at the other

Only David Jacobs from Cardiff had previously won an Olympic track or field gold (4×100 relay in 1912) and now Wales had three. Cecil Griffiths was an Olympic Gold medallist at the age of 20, becoming the second youngest British track and field athlete to do so.

Over the next three years, Griffiths would break several British and Welsh records including the 660 yards in 1921, the 880 yards in 1922 and the 800 metres , representing England against France in 1923 as Wales would not be recognised as a separate nation until 1948, when the Welsh AAA was formed. He seemed well ‘on track’ to be selected for the Paris Games, but sadly it was not be as John Hanna described:

Then it came out of nowhere, a lightening bolt that shocked the British Athletics community to its core. The AAA announced, as a result of a ruling by the World Governing Body of Athletics( IAAF), that Cecil Griffiths’ status as an amateur had been revoked. In effect, he was banned from all amateur athletics events, both home and abroad

After extensive research by Hanna (whose wife Vanessa was Griffiths’ granddaughter), it appears almost certainly, that Griffiths had accepted prize money at three races in 1917, long before he had any ambitions of becoming an athlete and as Hanna says in his book,

Cec was naïve, if not ignorant, regarding the politics and pitfalls associated with the cash he took home and in the grand scheme of things it was not a great amount, but it was certainly sufficient to perk the interest of the AAA when the time came

The IAAF surely could not have been aware of his transgressions before 1923, as he was allowed to take part in a variety of international events including most importantly, the 1920 Olympics and saya Hanna

What is remaarkable, is the fact that one of the country’s leading athletes was banned, yet there is no record of it in any of the documents belonging to the AAA

Hanna believes that due to his working class background and lack of an ‘Oxbridge education’, Griffiths was subjected to a significant amount of prejudice and pointed to Harold Abrahams, the British sprinter who had engaged a professional coach (Sam Mussabini) in the lead up to the Paris games, which was also not permitted at the time, but he was allowed to compete and would famously go on to win the gold in the 100 metres.

Abrahams along with Scotsman Eric Liddell(who also gained 7 caps for Scotland at Rugby Union), were immortalised in the 1981 Oscar winning film, Chariots of Fire and many feel that the ban imposed by the IAAF, robbed Cecil Griffiths of potential glory at the pinnacle of his career; in fact some of his Welsh records for the quarter mile (440yds) and the half mile ( 880yds) were not beaten until the late 1950’s.

 

Griffiths also comfortably beat Douglas Lowe, who would go on to win 800 metres gold in Paris, at a major race for ‘The Kinniard Trophy’, a month before the games, suggesting that he would have almost certainly got a medal in the 800 metre event, possibly the gold itself. Cecil didn’t fight the ban, but it did plunge him into despair and he became mentally unwell and when the Olympic Gold went to Eric Liddell (which could well have been his) he sportingly declared that he was, ‘delighted for my chum.’

There were many inaccuracies in the film adaptation surrounding Liddell’s refusal to run on a Sunday due to his religious beliefs, as in the film, for dramatic purposes, he does not learn that his 100 metresheat is scheduled for the Sabbath, until he is boarding the ship bound for France. In fact the programme had been made public months before and Liddell’s decision not to run had put him under immense pressure from the authorities. However, knowing that he was going to run the 400 metres instead meant that he had spent several months training for the event, which he would win and be forever remembered for thanks to the film. However, if Griffiths had been selected for the 400 metres, it is highly likely that there would not have been a place for Liddell as prior to the games, his results in the 400 metres were not of the sufficient standard required.

Cecil’s granddaughter reflected on the film by saying,

In some ways I’m pleased my grandfather never got to see Chariots of Fire because I’m sure it would have broken his heart

John Hanna believes that Chariots of Fire gave Abrahams and Liddell,

A form of immortality when their stories were told in the film and that their subsequent fame has gone on to monopolise the history of their bygone era

Sadly he goes on to say that,

Because Cecil Griffiths was not given the chance to compete in Paris in 1924, his importance in Welsh and British athletics history has mostly been overlooked and his achievements slipped under the radar

Although later reinstated by the AAA, Griffiths was banned by the IAAF from competing in international events, but not from competing at home, as explained by John Hanna

In effect he was allowed to run in GB but not for GB

He would go on to win ‘The British half mile’ in 1923 and 1925 and he continued to run competitively being in the top three in the British Championships in the 440 yards or 880 yards, every year between 1919 and 1927

The Great Depression of the early 1930’s saw Griffiths lose his job, forcing him to sell his medals, except for his Olympic gold, to provide for his family, and he would sadly die in 1945, aged only 45, without enough money to put a headstone on his grave. However in 2022, after a campaign by his granddaughter Vanessa Hanna, a headstone was installed at his unmarked grave in London, which following a campaign was funded by Mossfords Memorial Masons from Cardiff and is fittingly carved from Welsh slate.

His hometown of Neath has also honoured his achievements with a ‘Blue Plaque’ unveiled at ‘Cwt Herbert Sports Centre’ and there has also been a road named after him- ‘Clos Cecil Griffiths’- in Tonna.

Cecil Griffiths was inducted into ‘The Welsh Sports Hall of Fame’ in 2012 and into ‘The Welsh Athletics Hall of fame’ in the same year and was the first to be included posthumously ; a fitting tribute to one of only four Welsh track and field athletes ( Lynn Davies being the fourth in the long Jump in 1964)to ever win an Olympic gold and whom The Times once described as , ‘The best runner in Wales’.

 

Article copyright of Bill Williams