Former US Olympian Gary Hall Jr believes he’s lost all of his medals in the Palisades wildfire.
The 50-year-old told the Sydney Morning Herald that he had very little time to evacuate his house when he first noticed a plume of smoke outside.
“It was worse than any apocalypse movie you’ve ever seen and 1,000 times worse,” he said.
The ex-swimmer, who won five Olympic golds, three silvers and two bronzes, managed to grab his dog, Puddles, his insulin, a painting of his grandfather, and a religious wooden piece his daughter Gigi gave him before he left the house.
He said he thought about the medals but did not have time to get them.
“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?”
The former athlete said he would look through the ash when he returns to “see if the medals melted together”.
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