Thorpe competed for the U.S. in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, winning the five-event pentathlon as well as the decathlon. He clinched the pentathlon gold prior to the final event and won the decathlon almost as decisively, scoring 8413 points to silver medalist Hugo Wieslander’s 7724. Sweden’s King Gustav V, in attendance at the Games, told Thorpe, “You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world.”
Thorpe’s background in minor league baseball was revealed about six months after the Games, in early 1913. Thorpe didn’t deny the truth, but asked for leniency, which he received from Swedish Olympic officials, but not from the American Olympic establishment.
Under the rules of the 1912 Olympics, Thorpe was technically a professional. Under those same rules, however, challenges to an athlete’s eligibility should’ve been submitted to the Swedish Olympic Committee within 30 days of the event. When Thorpe was not disqualified by the Swedish committee, American officials appealed to the International Olympic Committee, which stripped Thorpe of his medals.
Thorpe died in 1953 but his family never stopped lobbying for his reinstatement. In 1982 the IOC partially overturned its decision by reinstating Thorpe as co-champion of the pentathlon and decathlon. Gold medals were presented to his family in 1983.
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