MOSCOW, Jul 15 The International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially announced the American Indian Jim Thorpe's origins as the winner of the 1912 Olympic Games in pentathlon and decathlon, canceling the athlete's disqualification for violating the rules of that time, according to the Associated Press. Thorpe won two gold medals in track and field pentathlon and decathlon at the Olympic Games in Stockholm. In 1913, the IOC stripped Thorpe of his medals and title. It turned out that the athlete received money for playing baseball. At that time, only amateurs could participate in the Olympic Games. However, many believed that the decision was due to the Indian origin of Thorpe. After Thorpe was disqualified, the Swedish athlete Karl Hugo Wieslander was named the Olympic champion in the decathlon, and the Norwegian Ferdinand Bie in the pentathlon. In 1982, the IOC handed over duplicate gold medals to his family, since Thorpe died in 1953, but his Olympic records were not recorded, and Thorpe was mentioned as one of the champions. In 2020, the Bright Path Strong organization advocated for Thorpe to be recognized as the only Olympic champion in 1912, appealing to the IOC and the national Olympic committees of Sweden and Norway. The NOC of Sweden contacted Wieslander's family and found out that the athlete himself never considered himself the champion of the 1912 Games, completely giving the victory to Thorp. A similar statement was received from Norwegian sports officials. On Friday, the World Athletics Association and the IOC changed their historical data, fixing Thorpe as the only two-sport 1912 Olympic champion, with Bije and Wieslander named silver medalists.
