California wildfires: US swimmer lose ten Olympic medals
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Los Angeles: The American swimming legend Gary Hall Jr has lost ten of his Olympic medals, along with his other belongings, including a swimming pool, to the massive wildfires here in California. The fire that forced the evacuation of at least 1.4 lakh people has incurred devastating loss, which is worse than an "apocalypse movie", the swimmer told an Australian-based media outlet, the Sydney Morning Herald.
Narrating his escape from the Pacific Palisades, where he lived in a rented property, Gary said that it was a mayhem in Los Angeles with people surrounded by flames. Embers were “raining down” on him when he jumped into his car to leave, and he had only enough time to grab his dog and some personal items, Sydney Morning Herald reported.
He didn’t have a choice but to let go of his ten precious Olympic medals, including five golds, three silvers and two bronzes through the 1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympic Games. He said that he had thought about the medals but did not have time to get them.
"I did think about the medals. I did not have time to get them. Everyone wants to know if 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?" NDTV quoted the Olympian.
The charred home and swimming pool were part of his business, and now he had to start afresh.