The Academy
Award-winning film Chariots of Fire
(1981) was based on the true story of British athletes competing in the 1924 Paris
Olympics. At the end of the film one of the main characters, Harold Abrahams of
Britain,
wins gold in the 100-metres final. Jackson Scholz of the United States finishes
second, while a New Zealander named ‘Tom Watson' finishes third. The character was
based on Arthur Porritt who won a bronze medal for New Zealand in the 100 m in
1924, but reportedly refused permission for his name to be used in the film out
of modesty.
Porritt was
one of only four New Zealanders at the 1924 Olympics. He suggested that he was
selected not only because he was New Zealand's fastest sprinter but because it
was cheap to get him to Paris. At the time he was just over the Channel studying
medicine at Magdalen College, University of Oxford.
On the day
of the final about 30,000 spectators saw Porritt, Abrahams, Scholz and fellow
Americans Charley Paddock, Loren Murchison and Chet Bowman compete in the 100 m.
Scholz was the fastest away and still led at the halfway point,
but with 20 m to go Abrahams edged ahead to win in a time of 10.6 seconds. Scholz
was second (10.7 s) and Porritt third (10.8 s).
New
Zealanders had competed in athletics at previous Olympics, and Taranaki walker Harry Kerr had won a bronze for the Australasian team in 1908, but this was the first track medal won by New Zealand - and, significantly, it came in one of the Games' glamour events. It
was an amazing feat considering that Porritt was probably the only athlete in
the field that day not to have been coached prior to the Olympics. Following the
Games he trained under Abrahams' coach, Sam Mussabini, and in 1925 he beat the
gold medallist over 100 yards. Until Abrahams' death in 1978 the two men and
their wives dined together at 7 p.m. every year on 7 July, the day and hour of
their final.
Porritt's
involvement in the Olympics continued long beyond 1924. He was team captain in
Amsterdam in 1928, but withdrew from the 100 m due to injury. By then a trained
physician, he treated members of the New Zealand team, including boxer Ted
Morgan who went on to win gold. Porritt was then team manager at the 1936
Berlin Olympics, where he crucially advised Jack Lovelock to compete in the
1500 m, which he won, rather than the 5000 m.
From 1934 to
1967 Porritt was the New Zealand member of the International Olympic Committee
(IOC). He greeted New Zealand teams when they arrived in London en route to various
Olympics, arranging medical treatment, accommodation, training facilities and
equipment. He also presented Yvette Williams (1952), Murray Halberg
(1960) and Peter Snell (1960 and 1964) with their Olympic gold medals. Sir Arthur Porritt was accorded life membership
of the IOC in 1967 when he left to become Governor-General of New Zealand
(1967-72).
Image: Still from Chariots of Fire showing 'Tom Watson' (Arthur Porritt) (See clip on YouTube)
