At the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, Jim Thorpe gave  the greatest individual performance in Olympic history. He won the pentathlon, which is a combination of five track and field events and the decathlon, a combination of ten track and field events. Even though Thorpe had never before competed in the decathlon, another Olympian didn’t surpass his score for twenty years. When Jim returned to the United States, he was given a hero’s welcome and a parade down Broadway. However, after the Olympics were over the Olympic officials took Jim’s medals away. The officials learned that Jim had played a sport for a small amount of money, and at that time any athlete who played sports for a profit wasn’t permitted to compete in the Olympics. However, in 1982, nearly thirty years after Thorpe’s death, the International Olympic Committee lifted the ban against Thorpe. Duplicates of his Olympic medals were given to his children. Also, his name was re-added to the list of 1912 Olympic champions. 

Jesse Owens was a remarkable athlete; he won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Jesse won his medals in the 200 meters, the 100 meters, the 4x 100 meter relay, and the long jump. By doing this, Owens spoiled Adolf Hitler’s plans of racism. Hitler planned to show that the Germans were superior to everyone else, but Jesse, who was African-American, proved him wrong. Owens competed in a total of twelve times at the Olympic Games. Of those twelve, he equaled or broke Olympic records nine times and world records three times.

The American swimmer, Mark Spitz, had an amazing performance at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. He won all of the seven races he qualified for, and he set a world record in every one. His career total of Olympic gold medals is nine, and he also has one silver medal, and one bronze. This is a record for swimmers.