Great Olympic performances reverberate through history.  The Olympics are the grandest of stages as the world is watching.  And when an athlete does something special on this stage – it is quite a moment.

It was on this day, July 15th, 1912, that Jim Thorpe won 8 gold medals during the Olympic games. The summer games were played in  Stockholm, Sweden, and 28 nations competed.

Thorpe dominated the pentathlon and decathlon, taking home gold in those events.  Unfortunately, the next year, since it was found that Thorpe had been paid to play professional Baseball, and since paid athletes weren’t allowed to be part of the Olympics, the International Olympic Commission stripped Thorpe of his titles.   It wasn’t until 1982, long after Thorpe’s death, that the International Olympic Commission approved Thorpe’s reinstatement into the Olympics, and thus re-honoring him with the Olympic medals.