Abrahams, Harold Maurice (1899-1978), held the English long-jump record for 32 years with his jump of 24 ft. 21/2 in. (7.378 meters), made in 1924. A month later, he won the Olympic Games 100-meter race in Paris, tying the record with a time of 10.6 seconds. He was the first European athlete to win a sprint race in the Olympic Games. Abrahams also won a silver medal as a member of his country’s 400-meter relay team. Abrahams was a central figure in the prize-winning motion picture Chariots of Fire (1981), which dealt with his experiences before and during the 1924 Olympics.
Abrahams was born on Dec. 15, 1899, in Bedford and educated at Cambridge University. During his college years in the early 1920’s, he was a dominant competitor in the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints and the long jump. Abrahams participated in the 1920 Olympic Games but won no medals. He retired from competition in 1925 after suffering an injury as a long jumper. He then began a distinguished career as a lawyer, broadcaster, journalist, statistician, and later, administrator of athletics. He served as chairman of the British Amateur Athletic Board from 1968 to 1975. He also wrote several books, including The Olympic Games, 1896-1952. He died on Jan. 14, 1978.
