Native American multi-sport legend Jim Thorpe not only won the gold medal in the pentathlon and decathlon in the 1912 Olympics, he did it so convincingly that King Gustav V of Sweden proclaimed him “the greatest athlete in the world.”
The two medals were stripped from Thorpe months later over amateurism violations, but have now been restored by the International Olympic Committee.
Previously, the IOC had given duplicate gold medals to Thorpe’s surviving family members in 1982, but had not reinstated him into the record books as the sole champion.
The recognition comes after two years of activism from Bright Path Strong, a group named for Thorpe’s native name Wa-Tho-Huk (“Bright Path” in English).