Jim Thorpe: At the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Thorpe had taken the world by storm, setting records in both the decathlon and pentathlon all-around events. King Gustav V had rightfully praised him, saying, “Sir, you are now the greatest athlete in the world.”
Following an exhausting round of parades and festivities back home, he captained the football team of Carlisle Indian Industrial School to a victorious season that ended with its thrilling and much-appreciated victory over the Army.
Who was Jim Thorpe?
Jim Thorpe was reared as a Roman Catholic by parents of mixed-race origin. After a challenging childhood during which his mother and twin brother passed away, he decided to leave his family. Even after losing his father, he returned and enrolled at a Carlisle college to begin his athletic career.
He began playing football, baseball, lacrosse, and track and field in 1907; he even won an intercollegiate ballroom dance tournament. Playing both offence and defence, as well as special teams, he led his club to an 11-1 record in 1911, earning him notoriety for his football exploits. During the seasons of 1911 and 1912, when he was primarily concentrated on the sport, he was selected first-team All-American.
In the spring of 1912, he began preparing for the Olympics in Sweden, where he would go on to win gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon, two of his greatest accomplishments. He began his professional career immediately after returning from Europe, signing with the New York Giants, the reigning MLB National League champions. With them, he won another pennant and went on a global tour, meeting the Pope and inspiring more people to take an interest in baseball, even though he ended up switching teams and finishing with a 252 average in 289 games over ten years.
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Nevertheless, Thorpe had not given up on the sport that had made him famous; he had continued to play and be a champion player for the Canton Bulldogs of the American Professional Football Association, which existed before to the league’s 1920 merger with the NFL. For the next ten years, he was in the league as a coach and player, and in 1923, he was named to the First Team All-Pro. Newspaper articles also mention Thorpe’s accomplishments of playing hockey and basketball at or close to the professional level.
Jim Thorpe “the greatest” person in history
On this day, July 15th in 1912, Wa-Tho-Huk (“Bright Path”) aka Jim Thorpe, won the gold medal in the decathlon by an astounding 700 points. He won 3 events, had a second place, four thirds, and two fourths in the 10 events. All this 1 week after winning the pentathlon (5 events) pic.twitter.com/6cOLZxdwUV
— NDNSPORTS.COM (@ndnsports) July 15, 2024
Thorpe achieved enough success in college track and field to be invited to the tryouts in New York in 1912 when his versatility secured him a seat in the Swedish Olympic Games. He decided to practice in a variety of sports, including pole vaulting, javelin, jumps, and hurdles because the Olympics that year would include the pentathlon and the decathlon. He met the requirements for both.
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When the Olympics arrived, he also participated in the long jump and high jump, placing fourth and seventh, respectively. However, his first great achievement was in the pentathlon, where he won four events and was unquestionably the best in the field.
Then came the decathlon, when he destroyed local favourite Hugo Wieslander by finishing in the top four in every event and setting an Olympic record with a score of 8,413 that would last for over twenty years. Czar Nicholas II and King Gustav V of Sweden complimented him and said, “You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world,” as they gave him his gold medals. According to reports, Thorpe merely replied, “Thanks, King,” and then slipped out of the event.
Why were Jim Thorpe’s medals taken away from him in 1912?
Since he entered professional sports and was unable to compete in the Olympics again, he never again did. This particular regulation started the whole controversy that resulted in his being denied his gold medals for more than a century. It was revealed in a newspaper in January 1913 that Thorpe had participated in paid minor league baseball games for a few summers before his Olympics appearance, making his participation in the competition unlawful.
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Even when Thorpe wrote a letter claiming he was unaware of the rule and had no malicious intent, the Amateur Athletic Union nonetheless chose to remove his amateur status retrospectively. While most collegiate athletes competed professionally over the summer, Thorpe did not employ an alias to maintain amateur eligibility.
Thorpe was quickly stripped of all of his accomplishments by the International Olympic Committee, who did not even give him a chance to challenge their ruling.
In addition to his accomplishments in sports, Thorpe had a successful career in the film industry, appearing as an extra or a small role in several productions. Just before the athlete’s passing in 1951, Burt Lancaster starred in a biography about his life. Thorpe’s family received replica gold medals from the IOC in 1982, although he was not recognized as the winner of any events at that time.
After a long battle, Thorpe was finally able to get his gold medals back in 2022, when the Olympic Committees of Sweden and Norway decided to give them back to him. These organizations did this because, while they were still living, neither of their athletes thought they were the real winners of the pentathlon or decathlon. They saw Thorpe as the winner and recognized him as the gold medalist. This change in history marked the end of Jim Thorpe’s great sports career, which inspired millions of people.
