Frank Keeping

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ridername = Frank Keeping


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fullname = Frank Keeping
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country = GBR2
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discipline = Road
role = Rider
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updated = 11 September 2008

Frank Keeping was a British racing cyclist. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics 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

Keeping worked as a servant 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. Protests were overruled. [Price, Mike (2000), Days of Gold and Glory, privately published, UK] [ [http://www.times-olympics.co.uk/communities/cycling/cyclingreport16.html "Ullrich leads team-mates to podium"] The Sunday Times]

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". [Price, Mike (2000), Days of Gold and Glory, privately published, UK]

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 to finish one lap ahead of Keeping. Rain and wind meant there were few spectators and those that there were lost interest because the race was "a montonous sight." [Price, Mike (2000), Days of Gold and Glory, privately published, UK]