Three Olympic gold medals earned by Jen Lee, a member of the USA Men’s Sled Hockey team, were recovered in Texas after they were stolen when the athlete’s car was broken into last weekend.
Lee found that his car had been broken into on Saturday night in a San Antonio parking garage and the backpack in which he stored the three medals was missing. Lee had put the medals in the backpack with the intention of taking them to a friend to show them off, according to KENS Channel 5.
“We were very fortunate our team won another gold…Normally I will just show the most recent one, but because I have three, I thought that was pretty cool,” Lee said.
The US Army combat veteran had his left leg amputated above the knee after being injured in a motorcycle accident. He also plays for the San Antonio Rampage.
Surveillance cameras in the parking garage showed someone breaking into Lee’s car at around 7:15 p.m. on Saturday.
“I definitely was a little bit shocked, a little bit dumbfounded and all that and kind of even laughed like, what else is life going to throw at me these days?” Lee said.
The Paralympian pleaded for the thief to return the goods.
“It’s actually more than just the gold medal, it’s more of the value of, everything behind it. Leave it somewhere, drop it off at the police station. I’ll keep the medals, and you can keep the backpack, it’s all good,” Lee said.
Lee soon found his tweet of the incident had gone viral with well over a million views and only a day later, the medals were quietly turned over to the San Antonio Police Department.
Thus far, the SAPD has not identified the thief, but Lee is just thrilled to have gotten his medals back.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston