Olympic Medals From Native Americans Go On Display

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Olympic medals from three Native American athletes who competed in the 1912 games in Stockholm, Sweden are in a new exhibit opening at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington.

The medals from athletes Jim Thorpe, Billy Mills and Duke Kahanamoku go on display Friday to mark the 100th anniversary of the Stockholm games. Later in July, the medals will travel to London for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games to be displayed for spectators.

In 1912, Thorpe swept both the pentathlon and decathlon. He was the first and only Olympian to accomplish this, and King Gustav V of Sweden proclaimed Thorpe "the greatest athlete in the world."

Kahanamoku won the 100-meter freestyle.

Mills won the gold in Tokyo in 1964.

The exhibit is open through Sept. 3.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)