The Associated Press named him “The Greatest Athlete of the First Half of the Century.” In this 1909 photograph, Jim Thorpe is wearing his Carlisle Indian School Football Uniform. He led the team to victory over Army in a game that pitted him against future President Eisenhower. Thorpe competed in the Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. He won gold in the decathlon and pentathlon team. Unfortunately, Thorpe was stripped of his medals when it was discovered that he had played amateur baseball, violating the strict Olympics rules. His status was not reinstated until 1983, more than three decades after death. After the Olympics, Thorpe went on to play baseball with the New York Giants and Cincinnati Reds, play football, and even played basketball. He was the first president of the American Professional Football Association, now the NFL.
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The Associated Press named him “The Greatest Athlete of the First Half of the Century.” In this 1909 photograph, Jim Thorpe is wearing his Carlisle Indian School Football Uniform. He led the team to victory over Army in a game that pitted him against future President Eisenhower.

Thorpe competed in the Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. He won gold in the decathlon and pentathlon team.

Unfortunately, Thorpe was stripped of his medals when it was discovered that he had played amateur baseball, violating the strict Olympics rules. His status was not reinstated until 1983, more than three decades after death.

After the Olympics, Thorpe went on to play baseball with the New York Giants and Cincinnati Reds, play football, and even played basketball. He was the first president of the American Professional Football Association, now the NFL.

Source: research.archives.gov

Olympic track and field gold medalist Wilma Rudolph was invited to the White House after her victories in the 1960 Olympics. In this photograph, she is in the Oval Office with President John F. Kennedy. At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Rudolph became “the fastest woman in the world” and the first American woman to win three gold medals in one Olympics. She won the 100- and 200-meter races and anchored the U.S. team to victory in the 4 x 100-meter relay. The first integrated events in Rudolph’s hometown of Clarksville, Tennessee, were the parade and banquet given in honor of her victories. Rudolph died of cancer in 1994 at age 55. You can read more about her life and career here. Also in the photo are Rudolph’s mother Blanche Rudolph, Robert Logan (standing), Vice President Johnson, and Edward Temple, the coach of the 1960 women’s Olympic track team.
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Olympic track and field gold medalist Wilma Rudolph was invited to the White House after her victories in the 1960 Olympics. In this photograph, she is in the Oval Office with President John F. Kennedy.

At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Rudolph became “the fastest woman in the world” and the first American woman to win three gold medals in one Olympics. She won the 100- and 200-meter races and anchored the U.S. team to victory in the 4 x 100-meter relay.

The first integrated events in Rudolph’s hometown of Clarksville, Tennessee, were the parade and banquet given in honor of her victories.

Rudolph died of cancer in 1994 at age 55. You can read more about her life and career here.

Also in the photo are Rudolph’s mother Blanche Rudolph, Robert Logan (standing), Vice President Johnson, and Edward Temple, the coach of the 1960 women’s Olympic track team.

A look back at the last US team to win gold in women’s gymnastics! The National Archives holds Federal records, so we don’t have any pictures of this year’s gold-medal winning gymnasts (but if they visit the White House when they come home, we will eventually have those records). Instead, here’s a Presidential photograph from the William J. Clinton Presidential Library from 1996, the last time the American team won gold in women’s gymnastics: President Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton pose for a photo with the U.S. Olympic Women’s Gymnastics Team in the Blue Room, August 7, 1996. (Photographer: Bob McNeely) Who is your favorite gymnast of the 2012 Fab Five?
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A look back at the last US team to win gold in women’s gymnastics!

The National Archives holds Federal records, so we don’t have any pictures of this year’s gold-medal winning gymnasts (but if they visit the White House when they come home, we will eventually have those records). Instead, here’s a Presidential photograph from the William J. Clinton Presidential Library from 1996, the last time the American team won gold in women’s gymnastics: President Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton pose for a photo with the U.S. Olympic Women’s Gymnastics Team in the Blue Room, August 7, 1996. (Photographer: Bob McNeely)

Who is your favorite gymnast of the 2012 Fab Five?