20 biggest sports scandals of all-time

3. Jim Thorpe stripped of his Olympic gold medals

Jim Thorpe is widely considered one of the most versatile athletes in the history of sports. Thorpe was named “The Greatest Athlete of the First Half of the Century” by the Associated Press, and his long list of accomplishments is nothing short of outstanding.

As a college football player at Carlisle Indian School, he emerged as a star that could dominate at nearly any position on the field. He was named an All-American twice, while also competing in baseball, track and lacrosse.

The Jim Thorpe Award, given annually to the best defensive back in college football, is named in his honor. In addition, Thorpe would help found the American Professional Football Association, which eventually developed into the National Football League.

Thorpe’s most impressive athletic feat, however, was taken away from him in 1913.

At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, he delivered a record-setting performance, winning the decathlon and pentathlon. Thorpe was beloved by fans when he returned home, but months later, his amateur status was revoked as a result of him playing minor league baseball prior to the Olympics. Despite the protest from the Amateur Athletic Union coming far past the legal limit of 30 days after the closing ceremony, the International Olympic Committee voted to strip him of his records and medals from the events.

Many believe the elimination of his records had more to do with Thorpe’s Native American heritage than it did the question of his amateur status, however.

"“Those Olympic records are the best proof that he was superb, and they aren’t official,” Kate Buford, author of the Jim Thorpe biography, Native American Son, told Smithsonian Magazine. “He’s like the phantom contender.”"

His medals were eventually restored in 1983, long after he had passed away.

The fact that Thorpe’s accomplishments were not even a part of the Olympics’ official history for so long further adds to the myth surrounding one of the greatest athletes of all-time.

Next: 2. O.J. Simpson murder trial