The 10 Olympic medals American swimmer Gary Hall Jr. lost in the Los Angeles fires will be replaced.
Days after Hall, 50, revealed she had lost nearly all of her possessions in a deadly fire that engulfed parts of the Los Angeles area, the International Olympic Committee said Sunday that the three-time Olympian had It has been confirmed that this will replace the medals earned through the event.
IOC President Thomas Bach: “We stand in full solidarity with the people of Los Angeles and pay tribute to the tireless work of our firefighters and security forces.” stated in a statement.
“Right now, we must focus all our efforts on fighting the fires and protecting people and property. We also know that the great Olympian Gary Hall Jr. lost his medal in the fire. IOC will provide him with a replica.”
Hall won his first Olympic medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games. She won gold medals in the 4x100m freestyle and 4x100m medley. Hall also won silver medals in the 50 meter freestyle and 100 meter freestyle.
Four years later in Sydney, Hall again won gold in the 4x100m medley and 50m freestyle. The Ohio native won silver in the 4x100m freestyle and bronze in the 100m freestyle.
At his last Olympic appearance in Athens in 2004, Hall won gold in the 50 meter freestyle and bronze in the 4×100 meter freestyle.
USA Today reported On Monday, the IOC typically stores unengraved medals from past Olympics that can be engraved and distributed later.
Hall chronicled the aftermath of the fire in an Instagram video she shared on Friday, thanking those who checked on her safety.
“Having love is more important than having things. All my earthly possessions are gone. My home is gone. My business is gone. I am so grateful for the support from the community,” he said. captioned the post.
The athlete detailed the horrors of the California wildfires in a recent interview. Sydney Morning Herald andsaid last week that it was “1,000 times worse than any apocalypse movie I've ever seen.”
“I was on the phone with my daughter. I noticed smoke coming from the back of the house. I saw flames coming out and houses flying off. There was an explosion. We don't have much time. There was a complete traffic jam on Sunset Boulevard. People were abandoning their cars and running for their lives. The police were telling them to do so. I was trapped in the car,” Hall recalled. “I had time to get the dog and just a few personal items,” Hall recalled.
Hall, who rented property near the Palisades fire, also lost a medal at the world championships.
“I also thought about medals. I didn't have time to get them,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“What everyone wants to know is, did the medals burn? Yes, they all burned. It's something you can live without. I think it's all just stuff. It's going to take a lot of effort to start over. What can you do?”
GoFundMe has since been organized instead of hall. As of Monday, more than $75,000 had been raised.
The Los Angeles fires had claimed 24 lives as of Monday.
