Edward Battell was a British

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

 racing cyclist. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics

1896 Summer Olympics

The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was a multi-sport event celebrated in Athens, Greece, from April 6 to April 15, 1896. It was the first international Olympic Games held in the Modern era...

 in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

.

Battell competed in the 333 metres, 100 kilometres, and road races. He came third in the road race, 87 km from Athens to Marathon

Marathon, Greece

Marathon is a town in Greece, the site of the battle of Marathon in 490 BC, in which the heavily outnumbered Athenian army defeated the Persians. The tumulus or burial mound for the 192 Athenian dead that was erected near the battlefield remains a feature of the coastal plain...

 and back. He came fourth in the 333m in 26.2 seconds. He was among the seven of the nine that started not to finish the 100 km.

Amateurism protests

Battell worked as a servant at the British Embassy in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. There were objections that he and another rider, Frank Keeping

Frank Keeping

Frederick 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...

, 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.

Olympic road race

The course for the 87 km race was poorly surfaced and often rutted. It ran over the marathon course between Athens and Marathon and then back again. Most riders fell off at least once. Battell was among them and he finished bleeding and coated in dust. His crash cost him the lead and he was passed by the home rider, Aristidis Konstantinides. He had also fallen, his bike beyond repair. He borrowed another, only to ride it into a wall in Athens after avoiding a spectator.