A former French Olympic figure skater who is battling cancer has revealed that thieves stole her medals while she was taking care of her mother.
Surya Bonaly, who is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer, says the thieves broke into her Las Vegas home and made out with all the medals she earned across her 11-year career.
The 51-year-old Bonaly was out-of-state to care for her mother, who herself is also fighting multiple forms of cancer.
‘You see all those medals that I won in the past while competing in different worlds and European championships are sadly gone,’ Bonaly posted to her Instagram account.
‘Several days ago someone, I mean a couple burglarized my home and stole all my valuable[s].
‘Little reminder to Vegas residents or Pawn Shops, if you ever see some foreign gold and silver medals for sales, Please Please call the Police immediately.’
Former French figure skating champion Surya Bonaly says thieves broke into her house and stole the medals she won across an accomplished and decorated career
Bonaly was in Minnesota caring for her sick mother when burglars broke in over multiple days
She returned days later to discover her house had been ransacked and her medals were gone
Bonaly shared security footage with Fox 5 Local Las Vegas – showing multiple individuals breaking into her home over the course of many days.
In what she describes as a ‘well-organized burglary’, thieves continued to arrive at her house to break in windows, tear down cameras, and cut the WiFi while also taking valuables.
On the video, a figure in a black hoodie and a woman wearing a delivery vest were seen making their way in. Bonaly says she later found a similar vest that was tossed aside one-street over.
‘I think it’s definitely organized by a company or by some bad people,’ Bonaly told the outlet.
Bonaly was in Minnesota at the time – helping her mother as she battles lung, breast, and sternum cancer. Three days later, Bonaly returned to her home to discover the place was completely turned over.
Among the missing items were the medals she won: ‘European champion or world champion, junior, everything – any medals that I had with my skating.’
Bonaly says she’s crushed by the break-in: ‘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.’
Bonaly won five European Gold medals and three World championship silver medals
She’s best known for being the only skater to land a backflip at the Olympics – doing so in 1998
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the burglary. Bonaly wishes she can re-unite with the prized possessions.
‘I’m hoping that I can find maybe some medals. I’m hoping, and I pray really that no [one’s] gonna melt that medal,’ she said.
Bonaly skated from 1987 to 1998 – competing in three Olympic games and winning European gold medals in ladies’ singles five years straight from 1991-1995. She also won silver in the same event in 1996.
In the World Championships, she won silver three-straight years in the ladies’ singles. In her junior career, she won bronze in 1989, silver in 1990, and gold in 1991.
Bonaly also competed in three Winter Olympics. Her debut came at the 1992 Winter Olympic Games – hosted in Albertville in her native France. She finished fifth – 0.5 points behind American Tonya Harding.
Two years later, at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, she finished fourth place – missing out on the bronze by, once again, 0.5 points.
At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, she made Olympic history as the first – and only – woman to ever complete a backflip and land on one skate. The move was shortly banned after she performed it.
Bonaly finished tenth at those games and retired after the competition.
