May 5 (UPI) — Former Team USA swimmer Gary Hall Jr., who lost 10 Olympic medals in the Los Angeles wildfires, was presented with replicas of the prizes by the International Olympic Committee on Monday in Lausanne, Switzerland.
He received the medals from IOC president Thomas Bach during a private ceremony at the IOC headquarters, also known as Olympic House. The five-time gold medalist also brought along two of his gold medals — from Atlanta 1996 and Athens 2004 — that melted and fused together during the fires.
“I cannot thank the Olympic movement enough for their support through this very difficult time,” Hall said, according to Olympics.com.
“Their realizations through this process that outweigh the sense of loss and that is this word of solidarity and what it means: the value of friends outweighs the value of objects, and character cannot be taken away, it cannot be burned, it cannot be lost and what is inside of us, our spirit, our being, our soul – that is important.
“We live in a time of capitalism, consumerism and you realize when you lose everything how little of it you truly need.”
Hall, 50, earned three silver medals and two bronze medals, in addition to his five gold medals. He won gold in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay and 4×100-meter medley relay in 1996. He won gold in the 50-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley relay in 2000. He won his final gold medal in the 50-meter freestyle in 2004.
Hall also won three world championship titles.
“We really appreciate your presence here,” Bach said at the ceremony. “I cannot tell you how much we admire you, not only because of the medals, but because when we were reading your tragic story of losing your house, your possessions and all your worldly properties, this went straight to our heart.
“But even more so, when we learned how you overcame this tragedy in the style of a true Olympic champion, showing all the resilience, courage and confidence that you were known for as an athlete at the time, but you displayed under very different circumstances once more.”
Hall, a Pacific Palisades resident, told TMZ in January that he had about three minutes to decide what he needed to take from his home when escaping the fires.
“I grabbed my dog first,” Hall said. “I grabbed my insulin. I have type 1 diabetes and need insulin to live. I didn’t have enough time to grab needles, which were in the bathroom at the far side of the house. My Olympic medals were in a closet at the far side of the house. I didn’t not have time to grab those. I did not have time to grab anything besides the dog, insulin and two items: a painting of my grandfather and a religious article that was given to my daughter.
“That’s what I got away with.”
Hall said he planned to hand down the medals to his children.
“I’m emotional, it’s hard for me to put words together in this time,” Hall said Monday. “I would like to express my gratitude first and foremost.”
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