This is going to be an incredible event.
Oglala Lakota Olympian Billy Mills will be the keynote speaker, alongside Tarahumarah runners from Copper Canyon in Mexico. Navajo runner Alvina Begay will also present.
I was asked to present at the forum, but I’m unable to make the trip back home during the first week in January.
Please help spread the word about this gathering of Hopi and other indigenous runners!
This Friday May 25, the Smithsonian will open an exhibit titled “Best in the World: Native Athletes in the Olympics.” The exhibit will feature Jim Thorpe, Duke Kahanamoku, Andrew Sockalexis, Billy Mills, and Hopi runner Louis Tewanima of Shungopavi on Second Mesa.
The Smithsonian has a nice write-up about the event on its website:
On the 100th anniversary of the Olympic Games in which athletes Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox), Duke Kahanamoku (Native Hawaiian), Andrew Sockalexis (Penobscot) and Lewis Tewanima (Hopi) represented the United States in Stockholm, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian presents “Best in the World: Native Athletes in the Olympics.” The exhibition opens Friday, May 25.
In 1912, Thorpe swept both the pentathlon and decathlon at the Olympic Games, becoming the first and only Olympian to accomplish such a feat and earning the accolades of King Gustav V of Sweden, who proclaimed Thorpe to be “the greatest athlete in the world.” Thorpe was joined that year by fellow Native teammates Kahanamoku, who won the 100-meter freestyle; Sockalexis, who placed fourth in the marathon; and Tewanima, who won the silver medal and set an American record for the 10,000 meters that stood for more than 50 years until Billy Mills (Oglala Lakota) won the gold medal in Tokyo in 1964.
Louis Tewanima competed in the 1908 (London) and 1912 (Stockholm) Olympic Games. For those who might be interested, I have written an article on Tewanima titled “Marathoner Louis Tewanima and the Continuity of Hopi Running, 1908-1912,” which will appear soon in the Western Historical Quarterly.
I’ve noticed an increase in the number of articles being published on indigenous runners. Many, including a nice write-up in Indian Country Today, center on Navajo runner Alvina Begay and her attempt to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Although she did not make the U.S. team, she is a remarkable runner. Keep your eyes on Begay and Navajo runner Craig Curley, who also tried out for the Olympics, as we look to the future of indigenous running.
And take a few minutes to view this clip:
In the March 2012 edition of Runner’s World, Kenny Moore wrote a lengthy and insightful article on Oglala Lakota runner Billy Mills. Mills ran cross-country for Haskell Institute (now Haskell Indian Nations University) and the University of Kansas. But he is best known for winning a gold medal in the 10,000 meter race at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Check out the following video:
At the Olympics, Mills also broke Hopi Olympic runner Louis Tewanima’s long standing U.S. record in the same event. Records are meant to be broken (you have to break one to make one). And who better to break Tewanima’s record than another indigenous runner?
Also, Indian Country Today recently ran a short story about a documentary film titled Racing the Rez. The film is about Hopi and Navajo cross-country runners who competed for Tuba City High School in Tuba City, Arizona. It is scheduled to be released this Fall.
Although I don’t know much about the film or its producer (Brian Truglio), it looks very promising.
Here is the trailer:
As the 2012 Olympic Games in London approaches, expect to see more articles on Native athletes, especially long distance runners.
Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert
Beyond the Mesas 