Thorpe ringer tees restocked! 👞👟 “Stolen Shoes at the 1912 Olympics.” Jim Thorpe (1887 - 1953) was a Native American athlete from Oklahoma and an Olympic gold medalist.⁣
⁣
If you look closely at Jim Thorpe's feet in the photo (swipe), you will notice that he's wearing different socks and shoes. This was not a fashion statement, but rather a desperate attempt to improvise after his shoes were stolen on the morning of his track and field competition at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden.

According to Bob Wheeler, founder of the Jim Thorpe's Foundation and author of the biography, "Jim Thorpe: The World's Greatest Athlete", a teammate reportedly lent him one shoe and then Thorpe managed to find another in a garbage can. Since one of the shoes was too big, he had to wear extra socks. He went on to win two gold medals that day.⁣
⁣
Here is how the Smithsonian described Thorpe's performance during the 1912 Olympics:
⁣
"Thorpe began the Olympics by crushing the field in the now-defunct pentathlon, which consisted of five events in a single day. He placed first in four of them, dusting his competition in the 1,500-meter run by almost five seconds.⁣
⁣
A week later the three-day decathlon competition began in a pouring rain. Thorpe opened the event by splashing down the track in the 100-meter dash in 11.2 seconds — a time not equaled at the Olympics until 1948.⁣
⁣
On the second day, Thorpe’s shoes were missing. [Track coach Glenn] Warner hastily put together a mismatched pair in time for the high jump, which Thorpe won. Later that afternoon came one of his favorite events, the 110-meter hurdles. Thorpe blistered the track in 15.6 seconds, again quicker than Bob Mathias would run it in ’48.⁣
⁣
On the final day of competition, Thorpe placed third and fourth in the events in which he was most inexperienced, the pole vault and javelin. Then came the very last event, the 1,500-meter run. The metric mile was a leg-burning monster that came after nine other events over two days. And he was still in mismatched shoes."⁣ -historycoolkids Link in the bio ➡️➡️➡️