Pentathlon, Men

At the eastern U.S. Olympic Trials on 18 May 1912, held in New York, Jim Thorpe won easily, setting what is considered the first world record in the pentathlon, with 3,656.980 points (3,372 on the 1985 tables). He was considered the American favorite in the Olympic pentathlon, but it was difficult to handicap the field as the event had never been contested internationally.

Thorpe solved the problem rather simply by winning four of the five events contested. Only in the javelin throw was he beaten by any athlete, as both Sweden’s Hugo Wieslander and Oscar Lemming posted longer javelin throws. Thorpe’s dominance was almost complete. Using 1912 scoring tables, his margin of victory was over 400 points.

However, as in the decathlon, Jim Thorpe only kept his pentathlon gold medal until early 1913, when he was disqualified for professionalism. The gold medal reverted to Norway’s Ferdinand Bie. Thorpe has also been awarded the Challenge Trophy for the pentathlon, which had been donated by the King of Sweden.

In 1982, after research by Bob Wheeler and Florence Ridlon, it was discovered that Thorpe’s medals should not have been removed, as any dispute as to eligibility had to have been made within 30 days after the end of the 1912 Olympics, but his medals were removed about 6 months later. The IOC restored Thorpe as the gold medalist, but he was listed as the co-gold medalist with Ferdinand Bie in the pentathlon, and with Hugo Wieslander in the decathlon.

Finally, in 2022, the IOC restored Thorpe as the sole gold medalist, and would now list Bie and Wieslander as co-silver medalists. The official announcement from the IOC, on 15 July 2022, was as follows: “On 15 July 2022, on the day of the 110th anniversary of Thorpe’s medal in decathlon, the IOC announced its decision to display the name of Jim Thorpe as the sole gold medallist in pentathlon and decathlon at the Olympic Games Stockholm 1912. The IOC explained in its communication that this development was possible after the engagement of the Bright Path Strong organisation, supported by IOC Member Anita DeFrantz, who had contacted the Swedish Olympic Committee (SOC) and the surviving family members of Hugo K. Wieslander, who had been named as the gold medallist in decathlon when Thorpe was stripped of his medals in 1913. The family had confirmed that Wieslander himself had never accepted the Olympic gold medal allocated to him, and had always been of the opinion that Jim Thorpe was the sole legitimate Olympic gold medallist. The same declaration was received from the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports, whose athlete, Ferdinand Bie, was named as the gold medallist when Thorpe was stripped of the pentathlon title”.