LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) -Multiple Olympic swimming champion Gary Hall Jr. received replicas of his 10 Olympic medals on Monday after the originals were destroyed during the Los Angeles wildfires in January.
The medals were presented to him by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach during a ceremony at the Games ruling body’s headquarters in Lausanne.
“Thank you for the medals,” Hall Jr. said in a brief speech. “Never before have 10 Olympic medals been replaced. Probably because no one has lost 10 medals before. I will do a better job at taking care of these.
“The realisation through this process that outweighs any sense of loss is this word of solidarity and what it means which cannot be taken away.”
Hall represented the United States at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics, winning five gold, three silver and two bronze medals in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens.
The 50-year-old was forced to leave the medals behind at his Pacific Palisades home during the fires which tore through the Los Angeles area.
“When we were reading your tragic story of losing your house and all your possessions and all your worldly properties, this was going straight to our heart,” Bach said.
The wildfires killed at least 29 people and destroyed large sections of the Altadena and Pacific Palisades neighbourhoods in Los Angeles, displacing tens of thousands of people.
It is estimated to be the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history.
Los Angeles will host the next summer Olympics in 2028.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)
