He won 2 Olympic golds, then lost them over tiny baseball pay 😱 #sports #olympics #history Jim T...

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]Jim Thorpe won two Olympic gold medals, then lost them because he had earned a little money playing baseball. Uh-huh?

[00:00:05]At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, Thorpe dominated the pentathlon and decathlon, two all-around events that tested speed, strength, jumping, and throwing. He became one of the biggest stars in the world almost overnight. But the next year, officials stripped his medals after learning he had played minor league baseball for pay before the games. Back then, Olympic rules worshipped amateur athletes, at least on paper. Many athletes quietly bent those rules, but Thorpe became the famous example of how harsh and uneven sports history could be.

[00:00:36]Decades later, his medals were restored, and in 2022, he was finally recognized again as the sole gold medalist. Sports history [music] is full of talent, but its strangest stories are about power.