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Oklahoma Olympians: Jim Thorpe regarded as one of the greatest athletes of all time

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Today's Oklahoma Olympian is one of the greatest of all time, Jim Thorpe. A Sac and Fox Indian, Thorpe was already an all American as a football player.

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When his all-around talent startled the sporting world at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, where he ran hurdled, jumped and threw his way to gold medals in the five-event pentathlon, and the 10 event decathlon.

Thorpe actually finished first in nine of the 15 events, dominating his competition by an impossibly wide margin.

 

At the games' closing ceremonies, King Gustav at the 5th famously told Thorpe, "Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world." To which Thorp replied, "Thanks King."

Thorpe was stripped of his gold medals for having played minor league baseball two years earlier, for 35 dollars a week.

The medals were re-instated in 1953, almost 30 years after his death.

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