Atlanta girl finds stolen Olympic gold medal

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When a northwest Atlanta girl went on a walk with her father Saturday, neither had any idea of what they would find.

Six-year-old Chloe Smith was walking with her dad along Grand Avenue when she saw something shiny near the road.

Chloe picked it up and tossed it like a Frisbee.

When the dad saw that, he decided to walk over and find it what it was.

What he discovered was something that he has seen on a FOX 5 story earlier in June.

The shiny object was an Olympic Gold Medal stolen from a vehicle in Atlanta earlier in the month.

Thieves broke into the car of Olympic Champion Joe Jacobi on Monday, June 6, stealing a backpack from the vehicle.

Inside the backpack was Jacobi’s 1992 Gold Medal he won with partner Scott Strausbaugh in the C2 canoe/kayaking slalom event in Barcelona, becoming the first American team to capture a gold medal in whitewater slalom.

Joe and his wife Lisa were taking their daughter from their home in Tennessee to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport so she could travel to Colorado to train in her father and mother’s sport, canoe/kayaking.

The family stopped to eat at La Fonda restaurant on Howell Mill Road before going to the airport. When they left the restaurant, they discovered that thieves had broken into their car and taken the backpack with the medal and a PC inside.

On Monday, Jacobi traveled to Atlanta from his Tennessee home to give the family a $500 reward and say thank you.

Jacobi also gave Chloe’s dad who is an Olympic fan some Olympic memorabilia he has collected over the years.

Joe Jacobi currently serves as Chief Executive Officer for USA Canoe/Kayak, the national governing body for Olympic level paddle sports in the United States.