Sydney Olympic 49kg tae kwon do gold medalist Lauren Burns returned home to find many items, including her medal, stolen:
Burns yesterday made an emotional plea to the burglars to return her most treasured possession, which had been hidden in a sunglasses case.
“Please, have the courage to give it back to me,” she said. “Please, don’t throw it away. Find a way to return it. I don’t care about the other things. It’s priceless to me but it’s of no value to anyone else.”
The medal is engraved with details of Burns’ achievement and police believe this would make it almost impossible to sell.
A personal misfortune, no doubt. But I found the “don’t throw it away” line a bit amusing. Ironically, the fact the medal is personally engraved (affecting its street value) might make it less likely authorities will recover it–unless she has a good-hearted burglar.