U.S. Olympic swim great Gary Hall Jr awarded 10 medals to replace those destroyed in L.A. fires

The Associated Press

· Posted: May 05, 2025 12:57 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

After each his Olympic medals were destroyed successful the Los Angeles fires, swimming large Gary Hall Jr. acceptable an unexpected grounds replacing them astatine International Olympic Committee office Monday successful Lausanne, Switzerland.

Ten Olympic medals awarded to 1 jock connected the aforesaid day.

"I'll bash a amended occupation of taking attraction of these," Hall Jr. quipped receiving the caller acceptable of 5 gold, 3 metallic and 2 bronze earned swimming for the United States astatine 3 Summer Games from 1996 to 2004.

The originals burned 4 months agone astatine his location successful the Pacific Palisades country of the metropolis that volition big the adjacent Summer Games successful 2028.

Replacing them by presenting 10 astatine the aforesaid clip was "a unsocial ceremony," said IOC president Thomas Bach.

"I don't deliberation that it happened ever earlier and I anticipation it volition ne'er person to hap again," Bach told Hall Jr. "We anticipation besides to springiness you a infinitesimal of alleviation and joyousness which volition assistance you present successful the further process to get implicit what you had to spell done with this tragedy."

Hall Jr. spoke with emotion astir being supported by family, erstwhile teammates and aged Olympic rivals similar Australia stars Ian Thorpe and Michael Klim.

"Having friends and household I americium a precise fortunate man," helium said. "The enactment that I was offered from the diversion assemblage has buoyed maine done the darkest of nights."

'Value of friends outweighs worth of objects'

He brought with him to Switzerland a deformed golden medal aboriginal recovered from the location helium fled with his dog, Puddles, aft grabbing his insulin medication.

"It's got immoderate character," Hall Jr. said of the burned golden astatine the Olympic ceremony. "The worth of friends outweighs the worth of objects. We unrecorded successful a clip of capitalism, consumerism and you recognize erstwhile you suffer everything, however small of it you genuinely need.

"Character cannot beryllium taken away, it cannot beryllium burned and it cannot beryllium lost."

Thorpe was among the archetypal radical to interaction Hall Jr. during the January fires.

"I don't cognize however helium knew," Hall Jr. said of the astonishment telephone from Thorpe, who was portion of the Australian 4x100-metre freestyle squad that took golden up of the U.S. astatine the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

"That is what this [Olympic] household is about, rivals and friends. I americium conscionable truthful appreciative to each of them. I can't convey the Olympic question capable for their enactment done this precise hard time."