A former Olympic whitewater canoe racer originally from Maryland has turned to Facebook to help recover the gold medal stolen from his car Monday in Atlanta.
Joe Jacobi, who went to Churchill High School in Potomac and now has a home about two hours north of Atlanta, won gold in the canoe slalom at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
He was part of the first U.S. team to win the race. The team was also the first to train on the Dickerson Whitewater Course built in 1991.
Jacobi has carried his gold medal with him everywhere for the past 24 years, according to WRCB, NBC's affiliate in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
"To me, putting a medal in a safety security box doesn't serve anybody," Jacobi told WRCB. "I take it everywhere, I share it with as many people as I can. I estimate tens of thousands of people have touched and held that medal, and when they do it takes them to that experience."
Thieves broke into Jacobi's car outside a restaurant in Atlanta and stole the medal, along with journals, a laptop and other personal belongings, according to a Facebook post from his wife.
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"I don't think anyone would ever imagine that there's an Olympic gold medal would be in a computer backpack," Jacobi told WRCB.
Police found some of the stolen items near a dumpster at an apartment complex, the Facebook post said, but they have yet to find the medal. The dumpster has since been emptied, so Jacobi joined the search efforts at a nearby landfill, his wife wrote in another post.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Atlanta police.
The Jacobis told WRCB the medal can be mailed to the Nantahala Outdoor Center in Bryson City, North Carolina, no questions asked.
For updates on the missing medal, search on Twitter.
