Olympic medalist Surya Bonaly is sharing an unfortunate incident with her fans and followers. And unfortunately, the news has to do with her past athletic feats.
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For a little bit of context, Bonaly is a French figure skater who became a trailblazer after she became the only Olympic skater to ever land a backflip on one blade. Throughout her career, she helped reshape conversations and treatment of Black athletes and amassed five European gold medals, nine French national titles, and three silver World Championship medals.
So imagine her fans’ surprise when she took to Instagram over the weekend to reveal that her home had been burglarized and the medals she worked so hard for were gone.
“You see all those medals that I won in the past while competing in different worlds and European championships are sadly gone. Several days ago someone, I mean a couple burglarized my home and stole all my valuables,” she explained in the video.
According to local news, her Las Vegas home was broken into over the course of four days by a man and a woman. In video footage captured of the robberies, the two could be seen wearing black as they continually forced their way into Bonaly’s home. During their crime, they reportedly cut the Wi-Fi, pulled down cameras and shattered her windows.
While Bonaly thankfully wasn’t home when the robberies took place, the incident couldn’t have happened at a worse time. During the burglary, she was away in Minnesota caring for her mother who is currently battling breast, lung and sternum cancer. Bonaly herself is also fighting against breast cancer, per the New York Post.
Three days after the robberies, Bonaly returned to her home and saw how much devastation there was and that her medals were missing.
“European champion or world champion, junior, everything–any medals that I had with my skating. I was there when the president of my French country gave me that as a present. So it’s a big honor,” she said in part to Fox 5 Vegas. “Well, just–I feel mad. I feel like sometimes I feel like I want to cry. Some people just feel like it’s better to steal something from someone than to go to work.”
She later asked in an Instagram post that Vegas residents and local pawn shops should be on the lookout for “foreign gold and silver medals for sales” and urged them to call the police if they spot them.
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