Fred Beck

Fred Beck was born in St. Luke’s, London, the son of German parents. As a member of the London Amateur Wrestling Society and Hammersmith Amateur Wrestling Club, Beck won back-to-back amateur championships in the freestyle (catch-as-catch-can) heavyweight class in 1905 and 1906.

By then a member of the German Gymnastic Society, Beck was chosen to represent his country at the 1908 Olympics in London, where he competed in the middleweight class of both the freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling events. Though he lost in the second round to Sweden’s Mauritz Andersson in the latter event, Beck won the bronze by default in the freestyle in a walkover when Carl Andersson refused to stand for the bronze medal match after an unsuccessful protest against his defeat in the semi-final to George de Relwyskow.

Beck was a pawnbroker by profession, residing in the Greater London area for most of his life. He lived to the age of 89, dying in 1972.