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≡ A 10-MEDAL CEREMONY ≡
It had to be the biggest one-person awards ceremony in history, as a 6-6 former American swimmer received 10 Olympic medals at one time.
It was Gary Hall Jr., whose medals across three Games in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens, were destroyed when his home – along with many others – was burned to the ground in the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles in early January.
The International Olympic Committee promised to replace his medals and on Monday, at Olympic House, Hall Jr. received a full set of medals from IOC President Thomas Bach (GER):
● Atlanta 1996 (4): 4×100 m Free relay gold, 4×100 m Medley relay gold, 50 m Free silver, 100 m Free silver.
● Sydney 2000 (4): 50 m Free gold, 4×100 m Medley relay gold, 4×100 m Free relay silver, 100 m Free bronze.
● Athens 2004 (2): 50 m Free gold, 4×100 m Free relay bronze.
That’s five golds, three silvers and two bronzes. After each Games, the IOC is given all of the unawarded medals made by the organizing committee, which it keeps for circumstances just like this one, although never before to award 10 medals to one athlete at one time!
Hall Jr. is one of 43 athletes who have won 10 or more career Olympic medals, 14 of which have been in swimming, tied for the most with gymnastics.
Said Bach:
“We really appreciate your presence here. 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 Jr. commented:
“I’m emotional, it’s hard for me to put words together in this time. I would like to express my gratitude first and foremost.
“I cannot thank the Olympic Movement enough for their support through this very difficult time. 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 Jr. also displayed a brutal, poignant souvenir of his former home, a scrap of metal which was two medals – from Atlanta 1996 and Athens 2004 – which had been melted together during the fire.
A GoFundMe effort has raised $94,650 to help as he starts again; he has the idea to try and introduce sports betting to swimming, with the intention “to use a percentage of revenue from sports betting to fund the rebuilding of youth sport programming in Los Angeles and relaunch Sea Monkeys Swimming.” He found a new place to live and wrote on Instagram last month:
“And lose, and start again at your beginnings
“And never breathe a word about your loss
“Striving for stoicism, I’ll post this and punt the recent tragedy towards the past. What a topsy turvy time since the Palisades Fire took my home, business and all worldly possessions. Tough hit.”
Thanks to the IOC, it may hurt a little less now.
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