Fresh off of winning a silver medal at his debut Olympic Games, Italian Lorenzo Zazzeri was back home in Florence celebrating when his car was broken into and several pieces of memorabilia were stolen.
Zazzeri revealed Tuesday on social media that, while he was parked at the Bellariva Pool in Florence, the culprit broke the glass to one of his car windows, stealing memories from his Olympic experience, including the GoPro and iPad he took videos with, along with souvenirs he bought for his family.
His Olympic silver medal, won in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, was not stolen as he brought it with him to the pool.
“I appeal to thieves, if you ever read all this, I ask you to return my memories to the Bellariva Pool and keep all the material you need,” his post reads, translated from Italian.
“Apart from the economic value, it is the emotional value they have for me,” said Zazzeri. “Inside was a shirt signed by the entire national team. An IPad with a video diary of the Olympic experience inside.
“I had in mind to post it on social networks and show it to all young people to create inspiration. There were all the memories “
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The 26-year-old Zazzeri had the fastest split on Italy’s silver medal-winning 400 free relay, clocking 47.31 while swimming third as the team lowered the National Record in 3:10.11 to win the country’s first medal in the event in Olympic history.
He was joined on the relay by Alessandro Miressi (47.72), Thomas Ceccon (47.45) and Manuel Frigo (47.63), as the Italians finished second to the Americans (3:08.97).
Zazzeri also split 47.29 on the prelim relay that had broken the Italian Record the night prior, and he was also an individual finalist in the men’s 50 free, placing seventh in a time of 21.78.
On Wednesday, the two-time European Championship medalist made another post on Instagram thanking everyone who helped him attain his dream of winning an Olympic medal:
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Zazzeri also has an artistic side to him—which you can learn more about here.
I don’t understand though.. attempting to sell it must raise some questions
Why selling? You can brag around that you are an Olympian and won the medal. Believe me that you will get more satisfaction than from some money earned by selling pretty cheap piece of metal (that is what it is without certificate) 😀
Don’t forget that Pride is mentioned first in the list of seven Deadly Sins 😀
Not the first time something like this has happened. WHY would you leave it in the car?????
Maybe he lives in it . Its not a bad idea for a swimmer . Park near Pool, get up 5 am walk to pool, train ,shower . Drive to cafe , drive to college / work( unlikely ) , to gym ,have lunch , afternoon rest . Drive to pool , train , to Cafe, park & sleep . Repeat.
i leave my children in a car, so an olympic medal should be fine
Maybe because he couldn’t bring it with him to the pool or forgot to bring it home? That’s honestly such a silly question. People do not always expect to have their cars broken into….
Theft in Italy. Shocked I tell ya!
Yes, that would have never happened in the US
I mean, if you were in very touristy places that’s pretty common in most countries tbh
I could say the same for Miami or NYC
Ha! I had my car window broken just like that in Rome. No Olympic memorabilia to take, just sunglasses and some pasta and olive oil from the trunk. You’d think a local would know better than a naïve tourist.