page_title: Arthur Linton
section_title: Death and aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Arthur Linton / Death and aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: Cartoon originally published in the Evening Express (Cardiff), 1896. Art and commentry on the death of cycilist Arthur Linton by Joseph Morewood Staniforth. Dame Wales's Lament
context_page_description: Arthur Vincent Linton was a British road bicycle racer. He is best known for winning the Bordeaux–Paris road race in 1896 and for breaking the world one-hour unpaced cycling record. His death just two months after the 1896 Bordeaux–Paris is steeped in controversy with some commentators speculating that his demise was caused by doping.
context_section_description: Shortly after his win in the Bordeaux-Paris, Linton entered two more races in London and Paris, but ill health forced him to retire from both. After the Paris race Linton's health was so poor that he was forced to return home to Aberaman. On 23 July 1896, at the home of a Mr. Michael Thomas a local contractor from Aberdare, Linton died of complications brought on by typhoid fever. His funeral took place on 27 July, his body taken from Thomas' house at Cardiff Road to Aberdare Cemetery. Hundreds of mourners lined the route and members of local and national cycling clubs were present. Several professional cyclists attended the funeral, including his rival Huret. In 1899 a memorial to Linton in the form of a stained glass window and lectern was unveiled in St Margaret's Church in Aberaman.
  Although not an issue at the time of his death, in the years following, Linton's image was tarnished by speculation that his death was caused by doping. The seeds of the story began in 1897, when Jimmy Michael was banned from racing in Britain due to a doping controversy. It was well known that Michael's and Linton's manager Choppy Warburton would carry a 'little black bottle' of an unknown substance to revive his flagging cyclists. During a meet in 1896, Warburton had given Michael a swig from his bottle, but the results did not enhance his performance and Michael was forced to retire. Michael claimed that Warburton had poisoned him, and Warburton then sued Michael for slander. This resulted in Warburton being effectively banned from all cycling events and Michael relocating to America. Although no record of the contents of Warburton's bottle was ever discovered it was speculated to be either strychnine or a substance known as 'trimethyl'. Although doping was not illegal under the rules of cycling at the time, and was common in many racing sports, it was felt that Warburton and Michael had crossed the line of acceptable behaviour.
  This incident then led some commentators to wonder if Linton's death was brought on by doping, despite Warburton and Linton having parted company the year earlier. In the 20th century the subject of Linton's death was raised again when his demise was included in the 1997 International Olympic Committee study on the Historical Evolution of Doping Phenomenon, and listed as the presumed first death due to doping during a competition. This was then repeated in a talk by Dr Gary Wadler who incorrectly associated the death of a cyclist at the 1886 Bordeaux–Paris race, referencing the former Olympic study. Other publications to have printed the story include Bob Goldman's Death in the Locker Room (1984), Barrie Houlihan's Dying to Win (1999), Les Woodland's Dope (1980), and The Sport Psych Handbook of 2005. These reports are littered with inaccuracies including the date of the race, five years before the first Bordeaux–Paris race in 1891, and the fact that the 'competitor' widely believed to be Linton, died during the race.
  In 2009 a blue plaque was unveiled at a ceremony at his home town and erected at his family home on Cardiff Road in Aberaman. The Cynon Valley Museum and Gallery also holds a bust of Linton, which is still on display.
caption: The Death of Arthur Linton by J.M. Staniforth
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