Felix Adolf Schmal (18 September 1872 – 28 August 1919) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n fencer and

racing cyclist Cycle sport is Competition, 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 ...

. He was born in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

and died in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

. He competed at the

1896 Summer Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 1896, Therinoí Olympiakoí Agónes 1896), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 1ης Ολυμπιάδας, Agónes tis 1is Ol ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

1896 Olympics

With a fencing mask, sabre and a racing bike, Schmal got a train ticket and headed for

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

for the first Olympics, and on 8 April 1896, he competed in the 100 km cycling race, but like seven other starters from the original ten he didn't finish the race. The next day he was competing in the sabre fencing event, and was looking at a medal having won both his opening two rounds, but then enter the King and his entourage and the officials decided to start the event again, in which Schmal only won one out of his four rounds. After a day off, Schmal was back in the saddle and winning two bronze medals, in the

time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

Schmal finished on a time of 26 seconds which matched the time of

Stamatios Nikolopoulos Stamatios Nikolopoulos was a Greek racing cyclist. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens winning two silver medals. Nikolopoulos competed in the 333 metres and the 2 kilometres races, placing second in each to Frenchman Paul ...

in second place behind the Frenchman

Paul Masson Paul Masson (1859 – October 22, 1940) was an early pioneer of California viticulture known for his brand of Californian sparkling wine. Biography Masson emigrated from the Burgundy region of France in 1878 (at the age of 19) to Californ ...

, but Nikolopoulos won the race-off and Schmal finished in third place, he also finished in third place in the 10 km race behind the French duo of

Léon Flameng Marie Léon Flameng (30 April 1877 – 2 January 1917) was a French cyclist and a World War I pilot. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, winning three medals including one gold. Olympics Flameng competed in four cycling t ...

and winner

. On 13 April, Schmal won his gold medal in the 12 hour race, seven cyclists started the race and by lap 10 Schmal had lapped them all, so he then kept on the wheel of Englishman

Frederick Keeping Frederick Keeping (11 August 1867 – 21 February 1950) 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 ...

for the rest of the race, only Schmal and Keeping finished the race.

Writing

Schmal was also a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

like his father and later an author, he would later write under the name of Adolf Schmal-Filius, his most popular book was written in 1904 called "Ohne Chauffeur" a "Handbook for Motorcyclists"

References

External links

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmal, Adolf 1872 births 1919 deaths Sportspeople from Dortmund Austrian male cyclists Austrian male fencers Austrian sabre fencers Cyclists at the 1896 Summer Olympics 19th-century sportsmen Fencers at the 1896 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists of Austria Olympic fencers of Austria Olympic gold medalists for Austria Olympic bronze medalists for Austria Olympic medalists in cycling Medalists at the 1896 Summer Olympics Austrian male writers