Jim Thorpe.Photo: Branger/Roger Viollet via Getty
Native American athlete Jim Thorpe was reinstated as the sole winner of the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics after the medals were stripped a year following the event.
Indian Country Todaywas first to report Thursday that the International Olympic Committee had changed its website to indicate Thorpe as the sole gold medal winner of the two events. The IOCofficially announcedthe change Friday.
After Thorpe’s win at the 1912 Stockholm games, it was discovered he had made a small sum of money playing minor league baseball from 1909 to 1910,ESPNreported. As a result, his title was stripped for violating amateurism rules.
The outlet said Thorpe was a Sac and Fox Nation member and was the first Native American to win a gold medal.
“It’s long past time,” Pulitzer-winning journalist David Maraniss tells PEOPLE of Thorpe’s medals being reinstated.
Maraniss is the author ofPath Lit By Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe, set to be released on August 9 from Simon & Schuster.
Jim Thorpe.HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty
The decision to revoke Thorpe’s medals has been heavily criticized over the decades. The incident has been considered the result of “a blend of racism… and a fanatical devotion to the idea of amateurism,” theNew York Timesexplained.
Before Friday’s announcement, nearly 30 years after his death in 1982, Thorpe was reinstated as co-winner of both events alongside Hugo Wieslander, who placed second in the decathlon, and Ferdinand Bie, who finished just behind Thorpe in the pentathlon, theTimesexplained.
TheTimessaid both athletes were reluctant to accept the gold medal status for the events after the title was stripped from Thorpe.
Despite the move, supporters still pushed to have Thorpe claim the sole spot.
“We are so grateful his nearly 110-year-old injustice has finally been corrected, and there is no confusion about the most remarkable athlete in history,” Nedra Darling, the co-founder of Bright Path Strong said, according to ESPN.
Bright Path Strong isa foundationnamed for Thorpe’s Indigenous name and has been leading the efforts to restore Thorpe’s title, theTimesreported.
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According to the IOC, several related parties for both Wieslander and Bie were contacted, who all agreed that Thorpe should have the title back.
Beyond being an Olympic gold medalist, Thorpe went on to play professional baseball and football.
He played major league baseball from 1913 to 1919 for the New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds, and Boston Braves. In 1920 he changed sports and began playing professional football with six teams, including the New York Giants, theTimesreported. He played until he was 41.
source: people.com
