Swimmer Gary Hall Jr. received 10 replacement Olympic medals Monday, more than 20 years after competing for the United States.
The medals, which Hall Jr. won during the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics, were destroyed, along with his house, in the Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year.
Soon after learning of the lost medals, IOC President Thomas Bach said in a statement the organization would be providing Hall Jr. with replacement medals for the five golds, three silvers and two bronzes.
The IOC made good on the promise Monday during a private ceremony at Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland.
During the ceremony, Hall Jr. showed two gold medals from Atlanta in 1996 and Athens in 2004 which had melted and fused together during the fires.
Hall Jr. thanked the IOC, saying its solidarity showed “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 realize when you lose everything how little of it you truly need.”
“I’ll do a better job taking care of these,” Hall Jr. added, according to CNN.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.