Best in the World: Native Athletes in the Olympics

Get ready for the 2012 Olympics by learning about Native American athletes who have provided some of the most dramatic moments in Olympic history. Special attention is given to the 1912 Games in Stockholm, Sweden, whose centenary we celebrate, and in which Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox) won both the pentathlon and the decathlon (a feat not since accomplished); Duke Kahanamoku (Native Hawaiian) won the 100-meter freestyle; Andrew Sockalexis (Penobscot) placed fourth in the marathon; and Lewis Tewanima (Hopi) won the silver medal and set an American record for the 10,000 meters that stood for more than 50 years, until another American Indian, Billy Mills (Oglala Lakota), won gold in Tokyo in 1964.