Paralympic swimmer Aurélie Rivard announced on Sunday that she had been the victim of a theft the previous night in downtown Montreal. After smashing the window of his car, the criminals allegedly fled with his gold medal from the Rio de Janeiro Games.
“In addition to being essential to my way of life [my car] contained precious objects including my gold medal in the 400m freestyle from the Rio Games, the most significant in my eyes,” the athlete noted in a publication on his Instagram account.
She then explains having to lug around “half of [her] house (clothes, swimming equipment, university books, Paralympic gear, etc.) particularly during the Olympic year, in order to meet several commitments outside of [his] training town.”
“No need to tell you how saddened I am by this deplorable and malicious action,” she concluded.
The 27-year-old athlete from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu pulverized the competition in the 400-meter freestyle at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, winning his third gold medal of the event.
She also won five medals at the 2021 Tokyo Paralympic Games to bring her career total to 10 medals in three Games appearances.
