Jim Thorpe

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19 Get the Presidential Medal of Freedom Today

Biden will honor politicians, activists, athletes, and more

(Newser) - Clarence B. Jones says he thought a prankster was on the line when he answered the phone and heard the caller say they were from the White House. "I said, 'Is this a joke or is this serious?'" Jones recalled. The caller swore that President Biden wanted...

IOC Reinstates Wins of 'Most Remarkable Athlete'

Jim Thorpe is now in the record books as sole winner of 2 golds at 1912 Games

(Newser) - Jim Thorpe, one of history's greatest and most versatile athletes, has finally been restored as the sole winner of two events at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. The Native American athlete was stripped of the two gold medals more than six months after the Games when it emerged that he...

'World's Greatest Athlete' May See Justice 100 Years On

Jim Thorpe was stripped of his 1912 Olympic golds

(Newser) - A Native American athlete whose gold medals were infamously stripped from him in the wake of a scandal following the 1912 Stockholm Olympics is getting a renewed push for justice more than a century later. Jim Thorpe, widely viewed as the greatest athlete of his day, handily clinched that year'...

Strange Saga of Sports Legend's Remains Is Still Unfolding

Elderly sons of Jim Thorpe want him back in his native Oklahoma

(Newser) - The name Jim Thorpe still shows up on short lists of "greatest athletes ever." Among other things, the Native American played pro football and baseball and won two golds (for the pentathlon and the decathlon) at the 1912 Olympics. Less well-known is the bitter dispute that continues 63...

Town Named 'Jim Thorpe' Fights to Keep His Body

Sons want famed athlete moved home to Oklahoma tribal land

(Newser) - The surviving sons of the famous American Indian athlete Jim Thorpe have long fought to get the remains of their father moved from Jim Thorpe, Pa., to tribal lands in Oklahoma, where he was born. Now they've won a crucial legal victory that puts them close to their goal—...

How the Decathlon Got Stuck in the Mud
 How the Decathlon
 Got Stuck in the Mud
OPINION
Aug 21, 2008 8:25 PM CDT

How the Decathlon Got Stuck in the Mud

Drugs, fan demand for broken records to blame of 10-discipline event

(Newser) - Once upon a time, the decathlon was it: The king of Sweden called 1912 Olympic champ Jim Thorpe “the world’s greatest athlete, and gold medalists such as Bruce Jenner became superstars. So what happened? Drugs, Robert Weintraub writes in Slate: Track events occupy the same space as the...

6 Stories