A six-year-old girl in Atlanta, Georgia found an Olympic gold medal in a pile of trash on the side of the road while out for a walk with her father.
The medal belonged to former slalom canoeist Joe Jacobi who won the gold in the 1992 summer Olympics in Barcelona. Jacobi’s medal went missing last month in Atlanta after someone broke into the Olympian’s car to steal the medal.
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On June 17, six-year-old Chloe Smith spotted the gold medal amongst a pile of trash along the road. Chloe’s mother, Charlmonique Cunningham, told ABC News that her daughter is “a very inquisitive, very spunky six-year-old,” who always picks up shiny things that she comes across. “She’s always picking up stuff, always finding things. Both her and her dad always want to bring stuff home.”
Cunningham was initially under the impression that her daughter’s discovery was “junk.” However, Chloe’s father was immediately aware of what his daughter found. Cunningham recalled, “Her dad instantly knew what it was, he had watched the news. He was aware that the medal had been stolen.”
While Cunningham remained skeptical that the medal was indeed the real gold medal stolen from Joe Jacobi, she reached out to him via email with pictures of the recovered medal. Jacobi then confirmed that the medal Chloe Smith found was in fact his stolen gold medal. Cunningham stated that Jacobi was “astonished,” and that “he was speechless.”
It took a little convincing from Cunningham for Chloe Smith to part with her newfound discovery, but Chloe then decided to graciously return the medal to its proper owner after talking with the Olympian.
Jacobi reportedly gave Chloe a $500 reward for finding the medal, and has promised to come visit her class in the fall.
