Three Olympic and Commonwealth Games medals stolen from Australian swimming coach Gennadi Touretski were recovered yesterday after thieves discarded them in a dam. Three Olympic and Commonwealth Games medals stolen from Australian swimming coach Gennadi Touretski were recovered yesterday after thieves discarded them in a dam. Police divers found Touretski's safe, which contained his most treasured possessions, dumped in Canberra's Dunlop Pond. Missing were papers, passports and jewellery, but still in the safe were the most precious of his treasures the three medals that were gifts from his charges. Thieves broke into his home in the Canberra suburb of Bruce on Sunday and took the safe from his bedroom while he was returning from the Australian Championships in Hobart.
Private collectors are willing to pay handsomely for Olympic gold medals.
Missing from Touretski's safe is a rare Omega gold watch, a 50th birthday gift from Popov. Swimming gold medalist Duncan Armstrong was also relieved for Touretski. Armstrong's medal from Seoul was lost and never found after The Australian newspaper used it to take promotional photos. But International Olympic Committee member Phil Coles has successfully lobbied for a replacement. An inside look at Afghanistan, the country in the eye of a global storm.