Asad，bewildered man—Jim Thorpe

人們在他的紀念碑上刻下這樣一句話：“吉姆·索普，你是世界上最偉大的運動員。”可惜的是，他生前并沒得到這樣的公認。

Jim Thorpewasaheroafterthe1912's Stockholm Olympic and a sad，bewildered man not too much later.Someone discovered that two years before the Olympics he had been paid a few dollars to play semiprofessional baseball.Though many amateur athletes had played for pay under false names，Thorpe had used his own name.As a result，he was not technically an amateur when he competed at Stockholm as all Olympic athletes must be.His Olympic medals and trophies were taken away from him and given to the runners－up.Both men refused to take them，saying they really belonged to Thorpe.The medals and prizes were then placed in a museum in Lucerne，Swltzer land.The records of Thorpe's victories were removed from the history of the Olympic Games.“I was not very wise in the ways of the world.” said Thorpe，and he then decided to give up amateur athletics for good.

1912年斯德哥爾摩奧運會后，吉姆·索普成了英雄，但沒過多久，他就成了一個悲傷和迷惘的人。原來，有人發(fā)現(xiàn)，奧運會前兩年，他曾經(jīng)為了幾塊錢參加過半職業(yè)性的棒球比賽。許多業(yè)余運動員使用假名參賽賺錢，而索普卻用了自己的真名。結(jié)果，從技術(shù)上講，他在斯德哥爾摩參賽時，已經(jīng)不是一名業(yè)余運動員了，而根據(jù)規(guī)定，所有奧林匹克運動員必須是業(yè)余選手。于是，他的奧運會獎牌和獎品被收了回去，發(fā)給第二名的獲得者。那兩人都拒絕接受獎牌和獎品。他們說，獎章和獎品實際上應該歸索普所有。于是那獎章和獎品就存放在瑞士盧塞恩城博物館中。索普獲勝的記錄也從奧運會的歷史中刪除了。“我對于人情世故不甚通達，”索普說。于是他決定永遠放棄業(yè)余運動。

索普的崇拜者們曾經(jīng)多次試圖讓國會把索普在1912年奧運會上贏得的獎品退還給他，這一計劃從未成功。但當體育新聞記者們告訴報紙讀者說吉姆·索普沒有錢買票去觀看在洛杉磯舉行的1932年的奧運會，于是成千上萬的人便把自己的票寄給這位昔日斯德哥爾摩奧運會上的英雄人物，索普還應邀和美國副總統(tǒng)一起坐在總統(tǒng)席上觀賞運動項目。當人們得知他急需醫(yī)療費不得不動手術(shù)時，從全國各地寄來的贈款使他得到數(shù)千美元的基金。

1950年，美聯(lián)社曾經(jīng)組織全國的體育專欄作家和體育節(jié)目廣播員舉行投票，其中170人投票選舉吉姆為20世紀最偉大的橄欖球明星。據(jù)美聯(lián)社統(tǒng)計在另一次選舉中，有393個體育專欄作家和體育節(jié)目廣播員投票選舉他為20世紀前50年里最偉大的運動員。他的總票數(shù)幾乎和其次的三個當選者的票數(shù)之和一樣多。

大約70年以后，在1982年10月，國際奧委會決定恢復這位偉大的美國印地安人運動員的業(yè)余運動員身份并交還兩枚金牌。1983年1月，國際奧委會主席——薩馬蘭奇先生在洛杉磯親自把這兩枚金牌贈還給索普的女兒和他的孫子威廉·索普。這樣吉姆·索普，這位現(xiàn)代最偉大的運動員終于恢復他應得的地位。

Several times，there was an attempt by Thorpe's admirers to have Congress to return to him the trophies he had won in the 1912 Olympic Games.This project was never successful.But when sports reporters told newspaper readers that Jim Thorpe did not have enough money to buy a ticket to the 1932 Olympics，held in Los Angeles，thousands of people offered their own tickets to the man who had been the hero of Stockholm，and Thorpe was invited to sit in the Presidential Box with the Vice-President of the United States.When he had to have an operation in and it became known that he needed money for hospital expenses，gifts of money from all over the country brought him a fund of several thousand dollars.

The Associated Press took a vote in 1950 among the sportswriters and sports radio broadcasters all over the country，and 170 of them voted for Jim as the greatest football starofthe twentieth century.In anotherelection，the Associated Press found that 393 sports writers and broadcasters voted for him as the greatest athlete of the first fifty years of the twentieth century.His total was almost as great as the combined score of the next three men in the pool.

About seventy years later，in October 1982，the International Olympic Committee decided to restore the amateur status and the two gold medals to this great American Indian athlete.And itwasMr.Samaranch，President of the IOC，who personally presented the two medals to Thorpe's daughter and his grandson William Thorpe in Los Angeles in January 1983.Thus，Jim Thorpe，the greatest athlete of the modern times，is finally back where he well deserves to be.