Russian Olympic Swimmers Have Medals Stolen, Found

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Two stolen gold medals belonging to Olympic champion swimmers Alex Popov and Michael Klim have been recovered from a safe in a metre of water at a nearby dam, Australian police said on Monday.

The medals and some watches were taken on Sunday from the home of the swimming duo's coach Gennadi Touretski in Canberra.

Russian great Popov trains in Canberra with Klim, an Australian dual freestyle relay gold medallist from last year's Sydney Games.

The stolen medals included Popov's 100m freestyle gold from the Atlanta Olympics and Klim's 4x200m freestyle relay gold from the 1998 Commonwealth Games. Popov's gold medal was valued at US$20,000 and Klim's at US$10,000.

"Those medals for us have a lot of sentimental value, it's not a price you can put on them," a relieved Klim told Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio.

The medals and six valuable watches were in a safe taken from the bedroom of Touretski's house near their training base at the Australian Institute of Sport.

An Australian Federal Police spokeswoman said the medals and a safe had been found late on Monday at a dam in Canberra's outer northern suburbs.

A passer-by noticed the safe in about a metre of water. Nearby construction workers pulled it to safety and then notified police.

Popov said he had presented his gold medal to Touretski because of the great difficulties the pair had overcome to win. "I gave it because I know how much that particular medal is worth for him, not financially but emotionally, psychologically, physically. For Gennadi, it's absolutely priceless, I would say." //Reuters