The American swimmer Gary Hall Jrwinner of 10 Olympic Medals at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004he received Monday at the Headquarters Del International Olympic Committee (IOC) Replicas Of all those medals, since he lost the originals in the fires that at the beginning of this year affected Los Angeles (USA) and destroyed their home.
Hall received the medals from the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, in the Olympic House of Lausana (Switzerland), main headquarters of the International Committee.
“Ten Olympic medals had never been replaced before, probably because no one had lost so many before. I will try to take care of these“Hall joked, 50 years old, at the rentrefzer ceremony, after thanking the COI gesture.
Hall lost on January 7 his home Angelina in Pacific Palisades, a prosperous residential neighborhood between the mountains of Santa Monica and the Pacific Ocean, and among the many lost belongings were the five golds, three silver and two bronzes obtained in the three Olympic Games in which he competed.
Just a few days later, the IOC promised Hall that he would receive replicas of his lost medals.
The fires caused at least thirty dead and destroyed important areas of the neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades and Altadena in Los Angeles, a city that will host the next Olympic Games, in 2028, and that has previously hosted those of 1932 and 1984.
