In Denmark, the first athletics event was held by the Københavns Roklub in 1886 at the initiative of sports pioneers such as Jørgen Peter Müller and himself, being the chairman of Københavns Roklub, the second oldest rowing club in the country.

[4] In 1896, Schmidt participated as one of three Danish athletes who competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

[5] He also competed in the military rifle event, finishing tied for twelfth place with 845 points; Schmidt hit the target 12 times out of his 40 shots.

[6] Together with fellow Københavns Roklub athlete Holger Nielsen, Schmidt also participated in the unofficial football event in which a Danish XI faced a Greek team as a "demonstration sport", and it was the Danes who came-out as the winners by either 9–0 or 15–0.

The mixed side won the first two pulls and so were awarded the gold medal.