Gary Hall Jr., a ten-time Olympic medalist and five gold medalists for the United States in his swimming career, fears he has lost everything in the Los Angeles wildfires.
That includes his Olympic medals, and the 50-year-old fled after seeing flames through the window of his Pacific Palisades home.
“It's not just a home, it's all worldly possessions,” Hall Jr. told 12news. 'I really am that guy who has nothing to lose.
'It grew quickly, then the flames, and you could see the houses going up one by one as you came down the hill to where I was.
“When I got into the car, hot embers were raining down on me. It will be hard to go back to the site, sift through the ashes, try to find things that might have survived the fire, but there are no expectations about that.
'I didn't have time to grab anything. “Everything is gone.”
Gary Hall Jr., a ten-time Olympic medalist, fled his home in Los Angeles without his medals.
Fires have caused devastation in Los Angeles with thousands of homes destroyed
TO GoFundMe has been launched to help Hall Jr, hoping to raise $25,000 to help him rebuild his life. As of this writing, $20,000 has been donated.
He explains that he fled with his dog Puddles, his insulin, a painting of his grandfather and a religious object that his daughter had given him.
“He was forced to leave behind everything he owned, including irreplaceable family heirlooms, photographs and more,” the page says.
“Chances are, he has also lost all ten of his Olympic medals, but nothing can take away the spirit that won those medals.”
Hall Jr. is now with his family in San Diego, but he said the scenes that unfolded around him as he drove away will stay with him for a long time.
“People were just abandoning their cars and running,” said Hall Jr. “Luckily they were able to make it out, but it wasn't like anything I've ever seen in any apocalypse movie, it's the closest thing I can relate to this experience.” “.
His first Olympic Games were in 1996 in Atlanta, before competing in Sydney and Athens.
In 2006, he fought off a shark that attacked his sister while they were spearfishing in Florida.
Hall. Jr had been renting his house at the time of the fire and running a business teaching children to swim.
The fires, which started on Tuesday, have killed five people and about 2,000 buildings have been destroyed so far.