As a swimmer representing Team USA in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics, Gary Hall Jr. made plenty of history.
He won five gold, three silver and two bronze medals, but on May 5, he was involved in a truly one-of-a-kind Olympic occurrence. He had his 10 medals replaced after they were destroyed in the Los Angeles wildfires.
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The accomplished swimming star fled his Pacific Palisades home from the fires that destroyed parts of Los Angeles in January along with his Olympic medals.
Hall, now 50, traveled to the International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland where he was presented with the replacement medals by IOC president Thomas Bach.
"Thank you for the medals. Never before have 10 Olympic medals been replaced — probably because no one has lost 10 medals before" Hall said, laughing, per NBC Los Angeles. "I will do a better job at taking care of these."
"When we were reading your tragic story of losing your house and all your possessions and all your worldly properties, this was going straight to our heart," Bach said, per the outlet. "But even more so when we learned how you're overcoming this tragedy, in the way of a true Olympic champion."
For the first time since 1984, the summer Olympics are set to return to Los Angeles in 2028.
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