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Gary Hall Jr.’s Olympic medals were destroyed in the Los Angeles fires. On Monday, he was awarded 10 replica medals at IOC headquarters to replace the ones he lost.
Like most of Hall’s belongings, the original medals burned four months ago at his home in the Pacific Palisades.
“I’ll do a better job of taking care of these,” Hall said jokingly.
The 50-year-old received a new set of five gold medals, three silvers and two bronze medals that he earned swimming for the United States.
IOC president Thomas Bach said presenting Hall Jr. with 10 medals on the same day was a “unique ceremony.”
“I don’t think that it happened ever before and I hope it will never have to happen again,” Bach told Hall. “We hope also to give you a moment of relief and joy which will help you now in the further process to get over what you had to go through with this tragedy.”
Hall brought to the ceremony a gold medal he found deformed in his home in the aftermath of the wildfires.
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Hall won gold in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games in the 4x100m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay and took home two silver medals in the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle in those same games.
The Phoenix, Arizona, native won two more gold medals in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games in the 50m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay while also collecting a silver and bronze medal in Australia.
In the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Hall Jr. won his final two medals. A gold medal in the 50m freestyle and a bronze medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
“Having friends and family, I am a very lucky man,” Hall said. “The support that I was offered from the athletic community has buoyed me through the darkest of nights.”
“That is what this (Olympic) family is about – rivals and friends. I am just so appreciative to all of them. I can’t thank the Olympic movement enough for their support through this very difficult time.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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