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A brief history of the Olympics

A brief history of the Olympics: Since there are no articles written on this topic, i decided to write here. If I'm not rated number one think of the mental anguish I will go through. But my confidence grows like an Olympian closing in on the finish line in first place. That used to be the ultimate, until steroids took over.

The first Olympic team really didn't have an idea what they were getting into. Made up mostly of Ivy Leaguers that were asked to compete, they didn't have much competition in the United States. Most colleges didn't have organized track teams, so competition wasn't very difficult. Imagine the United States track team with no black athletes on it. They weren't allowed to compete then.

But one minority was allowed to compete. It was the immortal Jim Thorpe. He attended tiny Carlisle College in Oklahoma. Carlisle was a school only for American Indians. Thorpe was already the best running back in college football. He defeated many teams by himself, he couldn't be stopped. One day Thorpe saw a flyer on his coaches board. He asked his coach what this was. When it was explained to him he said he wanted to try out. His coach asked what event he would like to try out for. Thorpe looked over the flyer, and pointed to two events. His coach thought he was crazy because those were the two most difficult events, the decathlon, and the pentathlon. Both events took a few days to complete. They were, and still are the most difficult events because you need strength, and speed.

Thorpe made the team, not the initial team. He entered a few years later. By now he was the greatest running back ever, and he was taking on the world in the Olympics. Not having really competing in these events before, it was not know how Jim Thorpe would stand up to the competition. People didn't realize this amazing athlete could do anything he put his mind to. First came the pentathlon, and Thorpe won the gold medal. People said he would be too tired to do well in the decathlon, they were wrong. Jim Thorpe won the gold medal in the decathlon, making him the greatest athlete in the world. Imagine, an Indian from a tiny college in Oklahoma. Oklahoma had just achieved statehood, and had the greatest athlete in the world.

The next great achievement by an American was at the Olympics in Germany. Hitler didn't want inferior black athletes to compete, but he gave in. He would not allow Jews to compete. A few Jewish athletes like the announcer Marty Glickman had to give up


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