Olympics

The Olympic Games are something I personally look forward to watching every two years whether it be the summer games or winter games. I am happy I am going to be able to say when I’m 80 years old that I watched every single Michael Phelps swimming competition in the 2008 Beijing games or when Apollo Ohno raced into speed track history in Vancouver. The Olympics are an event that unites over 120 countries for a very brief, but peaceful amount of time. Back in 2000, the North and South Koreans set their differences aside and walked together under one united flag as one nation. These two countries have been on the brink of war for years and to see them forget about their personal problems and work together to have fun and compete at the highest level in the world at something they all loved was awesome. Although there are many great things that happen in the Olympics, there are just as many controversies or problems in the games. We talked about several different cases dating back to the 1916 games that never occurred because of World War One. We talked about the Atlanta bombings in 1996, the boycotts in 1980 and 1984, but one we never mentioned was probably one of the biggest crimes, in my opinion, in the history of the modern games. Jim Thorpe is considered to be the greatest all around athlete that ever lived. Jim was born in 1888 and lived in Oklahoma. He was a part Native American who dominated every sport he tried. He played college football for Carlisle but also enjoyed Lacrosse, Baseball, and Ball Room Dancing. He led Carlisle to a National Championship against future president Dwight Eisenhower and Army. Eisenhower injured his knee trying to tackle Thorpe and later said, "Here and there, there are some people who are supremely endowed. My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe. He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw."

He was a terrific athlete and played professional Football, Baseball, and Basketball in his life. He participated in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden where he won both the Decathlon and the Pentathlon. After he won he was awarded the gold medals in his events but later got taken away because it was discovered that he was playing professional baseball and football for money at the same time. They thought that he was only playing for money, not for passion and pride for his nation. Jim was just trying to make an honest living the best way he knew how and that was playing sports. In today’s society you only focus on one major sport. Sometimes athletes can play two professional sports but never at the same time like Jim could. I always thought they took his medals in spite of him, because they were jealous of him. Whatever the reason, I feel this is one of the biggest crimes in the modern Olympics. This guy worked hard and competed at his best to win gold and he deserved it. There was petitioning to get Jim’s medals given back over the years but nothing ever happened. In 1982 the Jim Thorpe Foundation was formed and to help Jim's cause and the US Congress showed support in the foundation. In January of 1983, there was a ceremony that was held for Jim Thorpe as his medals were given back him with his children there to receive in honor of his father’s greatest. Although his gold medals were once again his, they IOC declared him co-champion with another athlete. This to me was the final slap in the face to Jim even though both competitors back then declared Jim the true champion.

If you are unfamiliar with Jim, look him up! He was truly the greatest athlete who ever walked the Earth and deserves to be known.

Here are some articles with some great information about Jim.

http://www.sportsrant.com/top-10-most-controversial-olympic-moments-a3541.html

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/07/09/jim.thorpe/

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/08/08/bc.olympics.athletics.thorpe/