What time did Eric Liddell record in winning the 400 metre race at the 1924 Summer Olympics?

Eric Henry Liddell (16 January 1902 – 21 February 1945) was a Scottish sprinter, rugby player and Christian missionary. Born in Qing China to Scottish missionary parents, he attended boarding school near London, spending time when possible with his family in Edinburgh, and afterwards attended the University of Edinburgh.

At the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, Liddell refused to run in the heats for his favoured 100 metres because they were held on a Sunday. Instead he competed in the 400 metres held on a weekday, a race that he won.

The pipe band of the 51st Highland Brigade played outside the stadium for the hour before Liddell ran. The 400-metre had been considered a middle-distance event in which runners raced round the first bend before coasting down the back straight. Deprived of a view of the other runners because he drew the outside lane, Liddell raced the whole of the first 200 metres to be well clear of the favoured Americans. With little option but to treat the race as a complete sprint, he continued to race around the final bend. He was challenged all the way down the home straight but held on to take the win. He broke the Olympic and world records with a time of 47.6 seconds. It was controversially ratified as a world record, despite being 0.2 seconds slower than the record for the greater distance of 440 yards.