July 7, 1912: Jim Thorpe Wins Olympic Gold for U.S.

By Elizabeth Hertzler-McCain and Deborah Menkart

On July 7, 1912, in Stockholm, Sweden, Jim Thorpe won the Olympic pentathlon competition, taking first in four of the five events and finishing third in the javelin. Thorpe was a member of the Sac and Fox Nation, and he was the first Native American to win Olympic gold for team U.S.A. Because Native Americans were not yet considered citizens of the United States in 1912, Thorpe also became the first non-citizen to win Olympic gold for the United States. 

Jim Thorpe, circa 1910. Source: Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center

Thorpe also won gold in the decathlon eight days later on July 15, setting a world record that stood until 1927. In between his two gold medal performances, Thorpe took fourth place in the high jump and seventh place in the long jump. 

During the medal ceremony where Thorpe received his two gold medals, the King of Sweden, Gustav V, pronounced to Thorpe, “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.” 

Newspaper clipping of Jim Thorpe and his trophies for winning the 1912 Olympic Pentathlon and Decathlon. Source: Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center

Although he was the first Native American to win Olympic gold, Jim Thorpe was not the only Native American medal winner at the 1912 Stockholm games. Thorpe was joined by his Carlisle Indian School classmate Lewis Tewanima, who won silver for team U.S.A in the 10,000 meters. 

Thorpe was stripped of his gold medals in 1913 for violating the Olympics amateurism rules by receiving payment for playing minor league baseball from 1909–1910. It was a token payment and the complaint was filed past the statute of limitations. (It is of note that the amateurism law against earning money was designed to keep lower and middle classes from competing.)

While Thorpe did not complain publicly, others did. As reported in American Indian,

Gus Welch (Ojibwe), Thorpe’s roommate and best man at his wedding, gathered more than 200 signatures on a student petition urging the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to investigate misconduct in the Carlisle school’s administration and athletic department.

Many attribute that investigation to the eventual demise of the school.

After decades of lobbying from his family and Indigenous organizations, Thorpe was reinstated (posthumously) as co-champion in 1982 and finally returned to sole champion status in 2022.

Story prepared by Zinn Education Project intern Elizabeth Hertzler-McCain.