Louis Tewanima, born in 1888 in what is now Arizona, participated in two Olympic games and won the silver medal in the 10,000 meter run at the 1912 Olympic Games in Sweden. He became the first Native American (Hopi) to win an Olympic medal and set a US record which stood until 1964, when another Native American, Billy Mills (Lakota Sioux) broke it.
Tewanima had previously represented the US at the 1908 Olympic games in London where he placed ninth in the marathon. After the 1912 Olympics he returned to his reservation and spent the rest of his life herding sheep and raising crops.
In 1906, Tewanima was kidnapped by the US Government and sent to Fort Wingate in New Mexico, and then to Carlisle Indian School in 1907 where he met Jim Thorpe.
He passed away in Second Mesa, Arizona in January 1959.
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