Why did Olympic officials strip Thorpe of his gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon?

Olympic officials stripped Jim Thorpe of his gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon in 1913 after it was discovered that he had played semi-professional baseball prior to participating in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. The rules at the time strictly required Olympic athletes to be amateurs and not to have profited from sports in any form. An investigation revealed that Thorpe had been paid a small amount of money for playing baseball during 1909-1910, which led to the decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to disqualify him and retract his medals.

The concept of amateurism has evolved greatly since the early 20th century. In the time of Jim Thorpe, the Olympic Games were strictly for amateur athletes, which meant they could not have previously accepted any payment for participating in sports. The definition of amateur status was quite rigid, and even accepting expense money could jeopardize an athlete's amateur status.

Jim Thorpe was an American athlete who excelled in multiple sports, including track and field, baseball, and American football. His achievements in the 1912 Olympics were remarkable. He won the pentathlon and decathlon, and at that time, he was widely recognized as one of the greatest athletes in the world.

However, the discovery of his semi-professional baseball playing led to the controversial decision to take his medals away. His case has been a topic of debate ever since – many people have argued that the decision was too harsh, considering the era's widespread practices where many athletes found ways to receive some form of compensation.

Thorpe's story is an important piece of sports history and reflects the changing attitudes toward professional and amateur status in athletics. His legacy lived on, and public sentiment eventually led to the restoration of his Olympic titles. In 1982, 29 years after his death, the IOC presented duplicate gold medals to his family, reinstating Jim Thorpe as the champion of the pentathlon and decathlon in the 1912 Olympics.