Fishers High School

WIN ANYWAY The 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden featured two first-time competitions: the pentathlon, made up of five different track and field events, and the decathlon, made up of ten. They were designed to test the overall athletic ability and versatility of their participants. The International Olympic Committee was determined to find the world’s greatest athlete, and that year, they did just that. They found Jim Thorpe. Jim Thorpe is still considered by many to be the greatest all-around athlete in the history of sports. Born to a Native American family in Oklahoma, Thorpe first rose to prominence as a college football player for tiny Carlisle College in Pennsylvania. In 1911, a year before the Olympics, the All-American running back led his team to an 11-1 record on the gridiron and an upset of top-ranked Harvard. The following spring, he started training in earnest for his one and only Olympic appearance. The new pentathlon and decathlon events seemed perfectly suited for Thorpe, who had served as Carlisle College’s one-man track team on more than one occasion. He made the national team with ease and traveled to Stockholm in July of 1912 for the games. In his first Olympic competition - the pentathlon - he dominated the field, winning four of the five events and claiming his first gold medal. A few days later, he attempted a repeat performance in the decathlon. Despite his obvious athletic talent and his previous success, things didn’t exactly go according to plan in the decathlon. After a strong opening day performance that saw him take the early lead, Thorpe showed up on the second day to find that his shoes had been stolen only a few minutes before the start of the high jump competition. Scrambling to make ends meet, Thorpe allegedly borrowed one extra shoe from a teammate. It was too small but he squeezed his foot inside. A second shoe he miraculously found in a trash bin. It was too big, so he threw extra socks on to fill the space. As crazy as it sounds, it really happened. Here’s photo evidence from that day to prove it... thorpe.jpg This challenging circumstance wasn’t part of Jim Thorpe’s plan. It must have been extremely frustrating, especially for someone like him, primed for success on the world’s biggest athletic stage. In that moment, Jim Thorpe had a choice to make. Of course he had all the ability required to win, but without his shoes he also had something else: an excuse. It wouldn’t have been that hard for him to dwell on his uncontrollable circumstance, to feel sorry for himself, and to accept that achieving his goal just wasn’t meant to be. In all honesty, that's what most people would've chosen. Instead, though, in his moment of challenge, Jim Thorpe decided to do what champions do. He decided to go ahead and win anyway. In those mismatched shoes, Jim Thorpe went and won the high jump. Later that afternoon, he dominated the 110-meter high hurdles, and a day later - still in those shoes - he wrapped up his second gold medal by winning the tenth and final event of the decathlon, the grueling metric mile (1,500 meters). He finished that race in four minutes and 40.1 seconds. No decathlete in the next 15 Olympics (60 years!) would beat Thorpe’s time in that race. Even recent Olympians have beat his mark by only a few seconds. Was Jim Thorpe the greatest all-around athlete in the history of sports? He returned to Carlisle College in 1912 and led his football team to the national championship. He went on to a successful NFL career, was named to the league’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, and is a member of both the college and pro football Halls of Fame. Still not impressed? How about this. While he was playing football, he also played six years of Major League Baseball! His athletic ability and versatility remains unmatched. And yet, when we dig deep into the life and experiences of Jim Thorpe, we find that it wasn’t just his incredible athletic talent that made him a champion. His shoe dilemma at the 1912 Olympics offers a glimpse into his mindset and attitude, and it offers us some advice for the journey we’re on to becoming champions for ourselves. Jim Thorpe’s story teaches us that you just never know when a challenging circumstance might complicate your pursuit of success. You may have all the ability it takes to win, but when those circumstances arise, you’ll have something else, too. You'll have an excuse. In a moment like that, you'll also have a choice to make. It won’t be that hard to do what losers do - to dwell on your bad break, to feel sorry for yourself, and to accept that achieving success just wasn’t meant to be. But in that moment of challenge, you have another option, too. You can choose to do what champions do - what Jim Thorpe decided to do. You can get tough in your moment of testing, and go ahead and win anyway. SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHAMPIONS 101 NEWSLETTER HERE. Copyright Champions 101. All rights reserved.