05 May 2025 - American swimmer Gary Hall Jr has been awarded 10 replica Olympic medals by IOC President Thomas Bach during an emotional private ceremony at Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland.
His 10 medals from across three Olympic Games editions (Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004) were destroyed as fire swept through his neighbourhood in Los Angeles earlier this year. On hearing about his loss, the IOC announced it would provide him with replicas to make up for it.
On this moving occasion, IOC President Thomas Bach said: “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.”
After receiving the Olympic medals, Hall Jr spoke of what it meant to him to receive these replacements: “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.”
Adding to the emotions of the moment, Hall Jr showed two gold medals from Atlanta 1996 and Athens 2004 that had melted in the fire and fused together.
I cannot thank the Olympic Movement enough for their support through this very difficult time. Their realisations 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 realise when you lose everything how little of it you truly need.
Gary Hall Jr
He also told the audience how much he is looking forward to the Olympic Games LA28: “I was 10 years old when LA hosted the 1984 Olympic Games, and I was old enough to see […] what the Olympic Games was, the scale of it, the importance, the significance of the world stage in the 1984 Olympic Games. This inspired me more than any genetic inheritance or family tradition that propelled me.”
As part of the ceremony, Hall Jr also signed the Olympian Wall in Olympic House.
