Olympian Gary Hall Jr. will receive 10 replacement medals after Palisades home burned down

Sydney Barragan, The Orange County Register on Jan 14, 2025

Published in Olympics

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When Gary Hall Jr. saw the flames of the Palisades fire rapidly approaching, he grabbed his dog Puddle, a few family mementos, his insulin and left everything else behind — including five gold, three silver and two bronze Olympic medals that he had tucked away in a closet.

When he fled his home on Lachman Lane Tuesday morning, Jan. 7, nearby homes were already going up in smoke. He knew he was out of time.

News that Hall Jr. had been forced to leave his medals behind reached the International Olympic Committee. Though it will not be the same as the originals, the IOC announced on Sunday that it would provide Hall Jr. with replicas of all 10 medals, earned over the course of three Olympics.

“We are in full solidarity with the citizens of Los Angeles and full of admiration for the tireless work of the firefighters and the security forces,” IOC President Thomas Bach said in a statement. “Currently the full focus must be on the fight against the fires and the protection of the people and property. We have also learned that a great Olympian, Gary Hall Jr., has lost his medals in the fire. The IOC will provide him with replicas.”

Hall Jr. said he had trouble even expressing his gratitude to the IOC for their offer to replace his medals.

“The entirety of the swimming community has been so supportive,” Hall said. “The Olympic family has been so good to me.”

Despite being proud of his accomplishments, Hall said that he had never displayed Olympic memorabilia of any kind in his home and would refer to his medals as “really nice souvenirs from an incredible experience.” Even at the height of his career, he didn’t share his status as an Olympic gold medalist with strangers or fellow airplane passengers who asked, “So what do you do?”

Simply put, the “experience” didn’t define him.

“I think that attitude has made this process of losing them easier to swallow,” he said.

In the days after evacuating, and the fire continued to rage across Malibu, Hall said he was bombarded with messages from not only from other Olympians or swimmers, but athletes from other sports as well.

“It feels good to have a family,” he said.