Frederick Keeping (11 August 1867 – 21 February 1950) was a British

racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...

. He competed at the

1896 Summer Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad () and commonly known as Athens 1896 (), were the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), wh ...

in Athens. Keeping competed in the 333 metres and 12 hours races. In the 12 hours race, Keeping was one of only two cyclists to finish, covering 314.664 kilometres. He was only one lap behind the winner, Adolf Schmal, who covered 314.997 kilometres. Keeping tied with two others for fifth place in the 333m, with 27.0 seconds.

Amateurism protests

He kept working as a

servant A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly ...

at the British Embassy in Greece. There were objections that he and another rider, Edward Battell, worked for a living. That made them "not gentlemen so they could not possibly be amateurs." The historian Mike Price said: "Gentlemen were not paid so were true amateurs. Servants had to be paid and so lost any claims to being amateur. Such was the attitude of the day". The protests were overruled.Price, Mike (2000), Days of Gold and Glory, privately published, UK

Olympic 12-hour race

Six riders started the 12-hour race at 5am, four of them from Greece, and just two finished, "in total distress". Richard D. Mandell, in his book ''The First Modern Olympics'', wrote: "Neither had eaten and had only sipped liquid. They were squalid from excreta and delirious from fatigue... their legs swollen gruesomely... both could be heard weeping." Adolf Schmal of Austria completed 900 laps of the

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement ...

to finish one lap ahead of Keeping. Rain and wind meant there were few spectators and those that were there lost interest because the race was "a monotonous sight."

Later life

After returning home to

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, he opened a cycle shop in

Milford on Sea Milford on Sea, often hyphenated, is a large coastal village and civil parish in the New Forest district, on the Hampshire coast, England. The parish had a population of 4,660 at the 2011 census and is centred about south of Lymington. Touri ...

, and later garages in

New Milton New Milton is a market town and civil parish in the New Forest District, New Forest district, in southwest Hampshire, England. To the north is in the New Forest and to the south the coast at Barton-on-Sea. The town is equidistant between Lymi ...

and

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest (district), New Forest district of Hampshire, England. The town faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a Roll-on/roll-off, car ferry s ...

. He served as a member of Lymington District Council and Hampshire County Council.

Family

His son was Michael Keeping, who played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

for

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

and became manager of

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

in Spain.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keeping, Frederick 1867 births 1950 deaths Olympic cyclists for Great Britain Cyclists at the 1896 Summer Olympics 19th-century British sportsmen English male cyclists British male cyclists Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in cycling People from Lymington Medalists at the 1896 Summer Olympics English track cyclists British track cyclists English expatriates in Greece