Jimmy Michael (18 August 1877 – 21 November 1904) was a
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
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world cycling champion and one of the top riders in the sport for several years.
Origins
Jimmy Michael was tall. He was born in
Aberaman
Aberaman is a village near Aberdare in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, south Wales. It was heavily dependent on the coal industry and the population, as a result, grew rapidly in the late nineteenth century. Most of the industry has now ...
,
Cynon Valley
Cynon Valley () is a former coal mining valley in Wales. Cynon Valley lies between Rhondda and the Merthyr Valley and takes its name from the River Cynon. Aberdare is located in the north of the valley and Mountain Ash is in the south of t ...
, Wales. His parents had a butcher's shop in the town and he started cycling when he was 12. His first successes were at sports meetings in
Glynneath
Glynneath ( cy, Glyn-nedd "valley of the River Neath"), also spelt ''Glyn-neath'' and ''Glyn Neath'', is a small town, community and electoral ward lying on the River Neath in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It was formerly in th ...
and
Mountain Ash Mountain ash may refer to:
* ''Eucalyptus regnans'', the tallest of all flowering plants, native to Australia
* Mountain-ashes or rowans, varieties of trees and shrubs in the genus ''Sorbus''
See also
* Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf
Mountai ...
. He went on to win larger meetings in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
,
Newport and
Merthyr
Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...
. He also won Welsh championships at five and 50 miles.
[Fifty Yards From a Welsh Club-room, Sporting Cyclist, UK, undated cutting]
Michael went to London in July 1894 to ride the Surrey Hundred at
Herne Hill
Herne Hill is a district in South London, approximately four miles from Charing Cross and bordered by Brixton, Camberwell, Dulwich, and Tulse Hill. It sits to the north and east of Brockwell Park and straddles the boundary between the boroughs ...
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 Track tran ...
. Mal Rees, writing in ''
Sporting Cyclist
''Sporting Cyclist'' was a British cycling A4-sized magazine originally called ''Coureur''. It began in 1955 and ended after 131 issues in April 1968.
History ''Coureur''
''Coureur - the magazine for the sporting cyclist'' was the idea of the ...
'' after an interview with Michael's brother, Billy, said:
The crowd laughed to see such a 'David' having the temerity to start in a race of that length against so many six-footers. Cycling chroniclers of the day, reporting on the event, were astounded as the Welsh boy matched every attack in the hectic early stages. 'Who was this youth who dared to hang on to London's speediest riders?', they wrote. In the first hour, 24 miles 475 yards had been covered and 'the little hero' Jimmy Michael dogged the heels of the leaders until he succeeded in breaking away himself to lap the field at 46 miles.
At two hours, with 48 miles 377 yards covered, he was just outside the record, but at the 50-mile mark was inside with 2h 4m 42s. There seems to have been no serious threat during the second fifty for Michael consolidated his lead and went on to win in 4h 19m 39s with a seven-minute margin from the runner-up. This was a new record.
His performance brought him two contracts to ride in Paris.
Professional
Michael turned professional in 1895 for the Gladiator bicycle company, where he joined
Arthur Linton
Arthur Vincent Linton (28 November 1868 – 23 July 1896) was a British road bicycle racer. He is best known for sharing victory in the Bordeaux–Paris road race in 1896 and for breaking the Welsh one-hour paced cycling record. His death just t ...
, another rider from his town. Both were coached by
Choppy Warburton
James Edward 'Choppy' Warburton (13 November 1845 – 18 December 1897) was an English record-breaking runner and a cycling coach. His career in cycling has frequent claims that he drugged riders to make them ride faster.
Origins
Warburton was bo ...
. Michael became world motor-paced champion the same year at
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
and equalled Linton's record for 50 km. Linton had a poor year and their relationship soured. Linton's brother, Tom, made some comment in 1896 that prompted this newspaper letter from Michael:
Seeing that Tom Linton has been boasting in the South Wales papers that he can beat me, and that he would be willing to ride me any time, and also that his brother Arthur was 'champion of the world,' I will ride either of them, and will give them two laps in 100 kilometres, three in 100 miles, or four laps in six hours for £100 a-side and all gate receipts, race to be ridden at Buffalo or Winter track in Paris. I have deposited £20 with Sporting Life, so all they have to do is cover it and they can be accommodated at once, or give over talking. Anyone else in the world can be taken on the same terms, as I am middle-distance champion of the world and not A Linton. I am, &c.,
Jimmy Michael, 19 Avenue Phillipe le Boucher, Neuilly, Paris
The match may never have happened. Arthur Linton died in June that year, six weeks after winning
Bordeaux–Paris
The Bordeaux–Paris professional cycle race was one of Europe's classic cycle races, and one of the longest in the professional calendar, covering approximately – more than twice most single-day races. It started in northern Bordeaux in sout ...
.
Michael was a draw wherever he went. A crowd of 22,000 turned out to watch him race in Paris.
His biggest engagement in Britain was the so-called Chain Race at
Catford
Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green (ward), Rushey Green and Catford South Ward (electoral subdiv ...
track in 1896. William Spears Simpson had invented the
Simpson Lever Chain, which he was so insistent was an improvement over conventional chains that he staked part of his fortune on it.
Pryor Dodge wrote:
In the fall of 1895, Simpson offered ten-to-one odds that riders with his chain would beat bicyclists with regular chains. Later known as the Chain Matches, these races at the Catford track in London attracted huge crowds estimated between twelve and twenty thousand in June 1896. Simpson's team not only included the top racers – Tom Linton, Jimmy Michael, and Constant Huret
Constant Huret, nicknamed "le Boulanger" (the Baker) (26 January 1870, in Ressons-le-Long – 18 September 1951, in Paris) was a French long distance track cycling, track racing cyclist. He was a professional from 1894 to 1902.
Major achievemen ...
– but also the Gladiator pacing team brought over from Paris. Pacers enabled a racer to ride faster by shielding him from air resistance. Although Simpson won the Chain Matches, they only proved that the Gladiator pacers were superior to their English rivals.
Michael was pitched against
Charley Barden
Charles Frédérick Barden (1874–1962) was a British cyclist. He placed second in the UCI Track Cycling World Championships men's sprint in 1896 and 1897. He held the English cycling title among other records. He was accused of dangerous ridin ...
in the five-mile race. What happened next – indeed whether it happened in London or at another Chain Race in Germany – is now lost. But stories start with Michael taking a drink offered to him by Warburton
[Chany, Pierre (1988), La Fabuleuse Histoire de Cyclisme, Nathan, France] and end with his riding poorly to his falling off his bike, remounting and setting off in the wrong direction. The one thing accounts agree on is that the crowd shouted "Dope!"
Michael's strange behaviour at this meeting, and his withdrawal, led him to accuse Warburton of doping him. Many rumours surrounded Warburton but none had been proven and he sued for libel. It's unclear whether the case was heard. Warburton died two years later and the report of his death in the
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
concluded:
Michael is said to have accused Warbuton of poisoning him, and a suit for libel was instituted by the trainer, who later consented to an amicable settlement, although during the past season frequent rumors have come from London that Michael was to be returned to England to appear in the case.
In the background of whatever happened is a report that Warburton bet not on Michael at one or more Chain Races but against him.
The French historian
Pierre Chany
Pierre Chany (16 December 1922 – 18 June 1996) was a French cycling journalist. He covered the Tour de France 49 times and was for a long time the main cycling writer for the daily newspaper, ''L'Équipe''.
Biography
Chany was born in L ...
says Warburton drugged Michael to make him lose. Michael had drawn the attention of an American agent called Bliss who had offered him exhibition races in the USA. The speculation is therefore that Warburton drugged his rider to discourage Bliss's plans and to keep Michael for himself. But it is only speculation.
Michael did go to America. He missed the world championship in 1896 because that's where he was riding. Michael's earnings rose steadily, winning the "fabulous fortune" of 200,000 francs a year, according to Chany.
Another historian said:
Michael... signed a contract at the beginning of the 1898 season guaranteeing him $2,500 for each of nine paced races against his main rivals, including Major Taylor
Marshall Walter "Major" Taylor (November 26, 1878 – June 21, 1932) was an African-American professional cyclist. Even by modern cycling standards, Taylor could be considered the greatest American sprinter of all time.
He was born and raised ...
, making a total guaranteed income of $22,500, an enormous sum of money. ''Cycle Age'' described it as 'the greatest deal in the history of professional cycle racing and in fact of all sport outside pugilism.' For the few bicycle racing stars at the very top of the sport, the sky was the limit as far as what they could earn. Manufacturers were prepared to spend large amounts of money to hire star riders to advertise their bicycles and tires, and spectators lined up at the box office. Michael told a reporter he intended to make $30,000 from bicycle racing in July, August and September 1898.
Michael lost almost all of it by 1899 in gambling and by becoming a horse-race owner and jockey,
having been persuaded by the French champion, Fernand Charron, with whom he was friendly.
[Journal, Fellowship of Cycling Old-Timers, undated, quoting Victor Breyer in ''Cycling''] He crashed at 60 mph in a race in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
in 1903 and cracked his skull.
[Babylon Wales – May 14, 2006, Toulouse-Lautrec and the Welsh Cyclist by Anthony Brockway – Notes on Jimmy Michael](_blank)
/ref> He began drinking in the company of the Franco-Swiss rider, Jean Gougolz, whom Victor Breyer, deputy organiser of the Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
, described as "a weak-minded lovable fellow when sober but bad under the influence of drink." From then on, Breyer said, "Jimmy kept sliding down the toboggan, as the saying goes."
Breyer last saw Michael when he engaged him to ride at the Buffalo track in Paris in 1903. Michael was missing when his time came to ride.
After a wait, during which the public was growing impatient, Gougolz (who happened to be sober and was going to act as Michael's pacemaker) volunteered to take Breyer to where Michael might be found. They drove to a public house close by the Arc de Triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (, , ; ) is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Place de l'Étoile—the ''étoile'' ...
Michael was in an armchair near the bar, visibly drunk. Gougolz persuaded him to fulfil his commitment and the race was started an hour late with Michael among the riders. But he lost lap after lap, finishing a bad last, and he left the track followed by boos and hisses from the spectators.
Walter Rutt, the world sprint champion in 1913, said Michael began drinking because of an "everlasting headache" which followed his fall at Berlin.." In November 1904 Michael negotiated a final round of races in America which he hoped would restore his physical and financial health. He died of ''delirium tremens
Delirium tremens (DTs) is a rapid onset of confusion usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol. When it occurs, it is often three days into the withdrawal symptoms and lasts for two to three days. Physical effects may include shaking, shiver ...
'' in his cabin on the liner ''Savoie'' as it took him there. The cause was given as "fatigue fever".
Miscellaneous honours
Michael was drawn by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the ...
, the French art nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
artist, for a poster to advertise the Simpson chain company. Toulouse-Lautrec was a cycling fan and often went to Paris velodromes. He travelled to London in 1896 to make first sketches of the Welshman before completing them in Paris. Simpson rejected Lautrec's drawing because of technical details. Nevertheless 200 copies of the poster were printed. The National Museum of Wales
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** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
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bought one in the 1960s although it is not on display.
Michael was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.
Palmarès
;1895
:1st World Stayers Championships – Professional
;1902
:3rd European Stayers Championships – Professional
See also
*List of doping cases in cycling
The following is an incomplete list of doping cases and recurring accusations of doping in professional cycling, where doping means "use of physiological substances or abnormal method to obtain an artificial increase of performance." It is neither ...
References
*''Encyclopédie mondiale du cyclisme (Pascal Sergent – Editions de Eecloonaar)''
Memoire-du-cyclisme.net
External links
Photographs of cyclists – including Jimmy Michael
Image of Jimmy Michael with Choppy Warburton at BBC, Radio 4, The Long View – Cheating and drugs in sport, 14 October 2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michael, Jimmy
1877 births
1904 deaths
Welsh male cyclists
People from Aberaman
Sportspeople from Rhondda Cynon Taf
UCI Track Cycling World Champions (men)
Welsh track cyclists
Alcohol-related deaths
People who died at sea