Jim Thorpe

James Francis Thorpe (May 22 or 28, 1887 – March 28, 1953), known in Meskwaki as Wa-Tho-Huk, was an American athlete who won Olympic gold medals and played professional football, baseball, and basketball. A citizen of the Sac and Fox Nation, he grew up in the Sac and Fox Nation in Indian Territory, in what is now Oklahoma, and became the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States in the Olympics. He was among the most versatile athletes of modern sports.

At the 1912 Summer Olympics, Thorpe won two gold medals, one in the classic pentathlon and the other in the decathlon. He later lost those titles after it was found that he had been paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing, a violation of the amateurism rules then in force.

In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee restored Thorpe's medals with replicas, ruling that the decision to strip him had fallen outside the required 30 days. Official IOC records continued to list him as co-champion in both the decathlon and pentathlon until 2022, when he was restored as the sole champion in both events.