US Olympic hero Gary Hall Jr. says he lost everything, including his 10 medals, in California fires
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It’s difficult to save things when ‘you’re running for you life,’ said champion swimmer. The 50-year-old athlete told the Sydney Morning Herald that the devouring fires destroyed his rented home in the Pacific Palisades, his 10 Olympic medals, the swimming pool where he gave swim lessons to his children, and the majority of his belongings, with the exception of a few personal items he quickly packed before evacuating.
![[Gary Hall Jr. receiving his gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/09/22/GettyImages-51197725.jpg)
“It was worse than any apocalypse movie you’ve ever seen, and 1,000 times worse,” he told the outlet in an article published Thursday, two days after the fires erupted. “I had time to grab my dog and just a couple of personal items. It’s every person for themselves. It’s tough. It’s a big loss … and everything I own.”.
Because of the speed at which the fire engulfed his neighborhood, he wasn’t able to salvage his five gold, three silver, and two bronze medals he won in three Olympic games. He also lost his two world championship medals. I did think about the medals. I did not have time to get them,” Hall said. “Everyone wants to know, ‘Did the medals burn?’ Yeah, everything burnt. It’s something I can live without. I guess everything is just stuff. It’ll take some hard work to start over. What can you do?.
“It’ll be a range of emotions, particularly when it’s time to go back to where the house stood. I’ll shift through the ash and see if the medals melted together. Will I be able to find anything worth saving? Probably not. I don’t know. There is no time to take photos or videos when running for your life,” he said.
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