While this training improves Harold's running, it also is met with disapproval from the administration at Cambridge. The Olympics are supposed to be strictly amateur, and by hiring a professional coach Harold has, if not broken the rules, at least bent them a bit. Harold is called before a couple of the school's masters and warned about this, which he resents. He tells them that they are stuck in the past and that he intends to do what he has to do to win. After storming out, Harold is met by an enthusiastic Aubrey Montague who tells him that the Olympic team has been announced. They are both on it, as are their other Cambridge friends and teammates, Lord Andrew Lindsay and Henry Stallard. Eric Liddell has also been named to the team.
Meanwhile, Sybil fears that she is losing Harold, and confides in Lord Andrew, who is a friend to both of them. Andrew explains to her that while Games are just sport for him, to Harold they are something more: a chance to prove himself and earn a permanent spot in history. He advises her to be patient; after the Olympics Harold will regain perspective and return to her.
While this is going on, Eric has received a nasty shock: his- and Harold's- qualifying heat is being run on Sunday. Liddell, a devout Christian who believes absolutely in the sanctity of the Sabbath, cannot reconcile his conscience with racing on a Sunday, meaning that he'll have to forfeit the race. This is a terrible blow to his own dreams, but it also means that he will have to disappoint Britain as he is their best chance of winning the gold in the 100m.
On the Sunday of the qualifying heat, Eric is preaching in a church in Paris, speaking on the text from Isaiah 40:
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Meanwhile, Harold runs in the qualifier and makes it through to the 100 m final.