Will the injustice towards Thorpe stop one day?

In a recent post of mine I presented a collection of decathlon-related videos among which figured a link to the movie by Burt Lancaster on Jim Thorpe. (I realise now that I was dismissive concerning Lancaster's movie. This is rather unfair since Lancaster was a close friend of Thorpe and he made sure that Thorpe receive a payment for the movie). Looking for more interesting videos I ended up in a page announcing a project of a new Thorpe movie.

It's amazing that the Thorpe story is still fascinating people, a century later. Had he simply won the two combined events in the 1912 Olympics and turned professional afterwards, he would still be remembered as the greatest combined event athlete by the track and field specialists. However the whole sad story around his disqualification and the fact that the IOC had to wait till Avery Brundage passed away before reinstating Thorpe, kindled the interest of the laymen, not necessarily athletics fans.

Not having the books of Zarnowski with me I decided to look up Thorpe's performances in the Olympic events on the World Athletics site. And there I discovered that the injustice towards Thorpe continues unabated. James Thorpe does not figure among the 30+ Thorpe's listed on the site. There is even Helen Daniel, whose maiden name is Thorpe, but apparently WA never heard of Jim Thorpe. 

I have trouble accepting this. He is one of the best athletes ever, on par with J. Owens (who does figure in the WA lists) and A. Oerter. Ignoring his performances and his existence is unforgivable. 

Bill Mallon, the OG specialist, says apropos of Thorpe: “Nobody was in his class”. He was a natural. Until 1912, Thorpe had never thrown a javelin or pole-vaulted. He was so inexperienced in the javelin that when he competed in the US Olympic Trials, he didn’t know he could take a running start. Instead he threw from a standing position and still he came second.

Thorpe crushed the field in the olympic pentathlon, placing first in four of the events. In the decathlon the first day was contested under pouring rain. On the second day Thorpe discovered that his shoes were missing. He would finish the event with a mismatched pair, winning the high jump, the hurdles and the 1500 m. Even in the pole vault and the javelin, where Thorpe was less experienced, he managed to place third and fourth respectively. For those who are interested, here are his performances

11.2-6.79-12.89-1.87-52.2 15.6-36.98-3.25-45.70-4:40.1

Just by looking at them one realises the unique status of Thorpe. Today's decathletes are either runner-jumpers or jumper-throwers. Thorpe was a runner-jumper-thrower. I cannot even imagine what he would have done with a few more years of experience, hadn't the amateurism zealots not curtailed his athletics career.