In1912, Thorpe was invited to participate in the Olympics, which were held in Stockholm. Before the second day of decathlon, Jim Thorpe's shoes were stolen. Hastily, he found two different shoes lying in a garbage can to compete with. (One of them was too big, so he wore an extra sock to make it fit.) Thorpe won the high jump, then won the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.6 seconds.
He won the gold medal in both the pentathlon and decathlon. After his performance, King Gustav V of Sweden donned him “the world’s greatest athlete.”
In what turned out to be one of the great sports injustices in history, the International Olympic Committee stripped Jim Thorpe of his gold medals, citing that his participation in semi-pro baseball disqualified his amateur status. The two gold medals from the 1912 Olympic Games that Jim Thorpe was forced to return almost 70 years ago after he admitted he had once been paid to play baseball were restored posthumously on Oct 13,1982. ...{ Not only were the medals taken away, but his triumphs were expunged from the official Olympic record books.
Thanks to the immeasurable hard work by Bob and his wife, Dr. Florence Ridlon, his medals were finally restored to Thorpe’s children in 1983, proving that the IOC illegally and unjustly rescinded Thorpe’s medals.
Don't let injusitice of stolen shoes stop you from running the race of your life.
Even if you are not recognized till your last breath and you remain unsung let not bitterness be your epitaph.
Maybe not today,not tomorrow ,but eventually,you will get your right place in history.
No comments:
Post a Comment