Gary Hall Jr. won 10 Olympic medals with the U.S. swimming team from 1996-2004, then lost them all in January when the house he was renting in the Pacific Palisades went up in flames.
He now has all five golds, all three silvers and both bronzes back in his possession again, after the International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach presented him with replicas Monday during a ceremony at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland.
In a phone interview with The Times, Hall admitted he got “emotional” at the ceremony over what he considers to be a tremendous gesture by one of the largest governing bodies in sports.
“Just the appreciation — ‘one of our own’ was kind of the sense that I was embraced with,” Hall said. “When tough times happen, you find out who your friends are. And to see this response from the highest level of sport, it makes you feel special. It makes you feel supported, which is so needed at this time. And with the rebuilding process and dealing with incredible loss, that value is tremendous.
”… The measurement of our value is how much do we help others, and to be on the receiving end of help and support is both humbling and inspiring.”
Hall kept the medals in a fireproof safe — “I’ve got to check the warranty on that because it definitely was not fireproof,” he joked — in his bedroom closet, bringing them out to help inspire children and aspiring athletes during appearances and speaking engagements.
When massive wildfires struck the area Jan. 7, Hall was unable to retrieve the medals before fleeing to safety at his sister’s house in Encinitas. Weeks later, he returned to the site where his house had stood and found the safe amid the rubble. Hall was able to open it but was “disappointed” at what he found inside.
“It was basically a pool of melted metal — you know, some combination of watches and jewelry and cuff links and Olympic medals inside that safe,” Hall said. “It was all kind of pooled together in one big blob. I was able to pry out, like, these half-medals that kind of melted together. I offered it to President Thomas Bach, and he politely declined and told me that I should keep that one. It’s a unique Olympic medal, got a little character.”
He added: “There was another medal, a silver, that was kind of discernible, you could tell it was an Olympic medal. I may donate that one to the Olympic Museum” in Lausanne.
In addition to all of his possessions, the fire also cost Hall his swim-lessons business, Sea Monkeys Swimming, which he ran out of the pool at his home. He is working to get a sports-betting platform for swimming up and running and plans to use those funds to relaunch his business — first either in Florida, where he’s been staying for the last couple of months, or San Diego County and then eventually back in the Palisades.
“I think everybody who lived in that area loved that area. It just isn’t there anymore,” Hall said. “So this is the recovery process and it’s going to take time. This business that I had is dependent on families and kids being in the area. Those that I know and have spoken too, even those whose houses didn’t burn down, a lot of them are moving out because it’s just such a toxic environment. I love L.A. and it’s dire circumstance that’s forced me out, so it’s not goodbye.”
One “silver lining” to the situation, Hall said, is that his 17-year-old son Charlie got to be with him when he received his new medals “because he didn’t get to see the first ones being won.”
“Being able to share this experience with him means the world to me,” Hall said.