Former French Olympic figure skater Surya Bonaly had her medals stolen from her Las Vegas home by a pair of thieves over four days while she was caring for her cancer-stricken mother.
Bonaly, 51, is asking the public — and pawn shops — near and around Sin City to be on the lookout for the medals she won over her illustrious career, the French-born figure skating icon posted on Instagram Saturday.
“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 valuable,” Bonaly said.
“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.”
Security camera footage from Bonaly’s home — located about 7 miles west of the Las Vegas strip — captured what she described as a well-organized burglary.
The footage obtained by Fox 5 Vegas showed different individuals arriving each day, shattering windows, tearing down cameras, and cutting the WiFi during the calculated break-in.
The video showed a figure in a black hoodie next to a woman who appeared to be wearing a delivery vest, breaking into her home.
“I think it’s definitely organized by a company or by some bad people,” Bonaly told the outlet.
During the break in, Bonaly was in Minnesota as she cared for her mother, who is battling lung, breast, and sternum cancer.
Bonaly — who is also undergoing treatment for breast cancer while maintaining her work as a trainer — said she returned three days after the burglary to find her home completely ransacked.
Then, she made the gut-wrenching discovery that all the medals she’s won over her career — which spanned from 1989 to 1995 — were stolen.
“European champion or world champion, junior, everything — any medals that I had with my skating,” Bonaly said.
Bonaly, who earned five European and nine French national titles, said the medals commemorate pivotal moments from international arenas throughout her career.
“I was there when the president of my French country gave me that as a present. So it’s a big honor,” Bonaly shared.
The champion skater said losing her hard-earned medals has filled her with both anger and heartbreak.
“Well, just — I feel mad. I feel like sometimes I feel like I want to cry,” she said. “Some people just feel like it’s better to steal something from someone than to go to work.”
Bonaly later found a similar vest the woman was wearing during the break, abandoned one street over from her home, she told Fox 5 Vegas.
While being robbed of her prized possession has left her heartbroken, Bonaly said she still loves her neighborhood and plans to stay, but plans to boost security around her home with additional cameras.
“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.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the burglary.
Bonaly was born in Nice, France, and adopted from an orphanage by her parents when she was eight months old. From early childhood, she was trained to become a world-renowned figure skater, Sports Illustrated reported.
Surya Bonaly represented France at Winter Olympics in 1992, 1994 and 1998.
She rose to international fame in the 1990s for pushing the limits of figure skating with her acrobatic style and signature backflips that were illegal in competition.
At the 1998 Nagano Olympics in Japan, Bonaly stunned audiences by performing the first-ever backflip landed on one foot, according to the Olympics’ website.
She was penalized for the illegal move, but it is still considered one of the sport’s boldest moments.
Looking back on her trailblazing 1998 Olympic routine, Bonaly said she feels a more profound sense of pride today than she did in the moment.
“I appreciate it so much more now,” she told Olympics.com. “I’m more proud of myself today than I was all those years ago when I actually did the backflip.”
Bonaly never medaled at the Olympic Games but came close with a fourth-place finish in 1994.
