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Jim Thorpe, a Native American and one of many twentieth century’s best athletes having additionally performed skilled baseball and American soccer, was stripped of his medals in 1913 after experiences of the funds appeared in US newspapers.
IMAGE: American footballer and athlete Jim Thorpe (1888 – 1953) competing for Carlisle Indian Industrial College on the US Olympic trials in Celtic Park, New York, 18th Could 1912. {Photograph}: Topical Press Company/Getty Pictures
Jim Thorpe will now go down as the only winner of the decathlon and pentathlon on the 1912 Stockholm Video games, 110 years after the American was stripped of his medals for infringing newbie guidelines on the time.
The Beginner Athletic Union (AAU) — the predecessor of america Olympic Committee (USOC) — deemed Thorpe was not an newbie as he had obtained funds for making appearances for a North Carolina baseball workforce earlier than the Olympics.
Thorpe, a Native American and one of many twentieth century’s best athletes having additionally performed skilled baseball and American soccer, was stripped of his medals in 1913 after experiences of the funds appeared in US newspapers.
However in 1983, 30 years after his demise, the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) formally reinstated his medals, together with his youngsters accepting them on his behalf. Nonetheless, he was nonetheless deemed a co-champion in each occasions.
On Friday, the IOC stated Sweden’s Hugo Wieslander, who was upgraded to the gold after Thorpe was stripped of his decathlon title, had by no means accepted the gold as a result of he all the time maintained Thorpe was the “sole authentic Olympic gold medallist”.
Norway’s Olympic committee stated Ferdinand Bie made an identical declaration when he was named the winner of the pentathlon.
The IOC introduced that Thorpe’s identify will henceforth be displayed as the only gold medallist within the decathlon and the pentathlon, with the silver medals going to Wieslander and Bie, respectively.
“It is a most distinctive and distinctive scenario, which has been addressed by a rare gesture of honest play from the Nationwide Olympic Committees involved,” IOC President Thomas Bach stated in an announcement.
The athletes who have been awarded silver and bronze medallists after Thorpe was stripped of his medals is not going to be demoted both, with World Athletics agreeing to amend their information.
Thorpe grew up below the identify ‘Wa-Tho-Huk’ which interprets to ‘Shiny Path’. Shiny Path Sturdy, an organisation which petitioned to revive Thorpe’s medals, stated justice had lastly been served.
“We’re so grateful this almost 110-year-old injustice has lastly been corrected and there’s no confusion about probably the most exceptional athlete in historical past,” its co-founder Nedra Darling stated.
“I pray that Jim, his household, and our ancestors are celebrating that the reality has been upheld immediately, on this one hundred and tenth anniversary of Jim being awarded his Olympic gold medals. It is a day for excellent celebration.”
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