Letters

Thorpe trumps Phelps

Now that Michael Phelps has won more Olympic gold medals than any other athlete in history, some say he should be crowned as the greatest athlete.

Notwithstanding that the last few four decades have seen the likes of Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, none of them, or Phelps, can hold a candle to an American Indian from Lincoln County, Okla. – Jim Thorpe.

In 1912, Thorpe won the Olympic decathlon, and the King of Sweden, after awarding his gold medal, declared, “You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world.”

Despite losing his medal for having been a semi-pro baseball player, a calumny thankfully reversed 69 years later, Thorpe went on to a successful career in professional football and baseball.

In 1950, a panel of Associated Press sportswriters picked him as the greatest athlete of the century to date. Babe Ruth came in second. Today, no one can match a healthy Phelps or Woods in a pool or on the links, but neither has taken his skills onto the highest levels of another sport (or two). If and when that happens, then Thorpe can step aside as the premier all-around athlete of all time.

Simon Roloff

Spokane