I fear my Olympic gold has gone for ever, says Rhona
‘Medal that inspired a nation’
CURLING star Rhona Martin yesterday made an impassioned television appeal for the return of her stolen Olympic gold medal.
The skipper of Britain’s triumphant team at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics was devastated after it was taken during a break-in.
Thieves targeted an exhibition of curling memorabilia at Dumfries Museum on April 30 and got away with a haul worth £34,000.
A reconstruction of the theft was shown on the BBC’s Crimewatch Roadshow programme as police released CCTV images of the three raiders.
Also taken during the break-in was a Scottish Olympic gold won in 1924, by father and son Willie and Laurence Jackson, skipper and lead of the victorious men’s curling team.
The museum had staged the exhibition to coincide with the World Senior and Mixed Doubles Championships in Dumfries, but the police officer leading the investigation said he fears her medal may have been sold for scrap and melted down.
It cannot be replaced as the original mould was destroyed by Olympic bosses following the Games.
The former Mrs Martin, who has reverted to her maiden name of Howie following her divorce and is now head coach for women’s curling at the Sportscotland Institute of Sport in Stirling, appealed for help in tracking down her most treasured possession, which she won in 2002.
She said: ‘The museum were putting on an exhibition and asked if they could borrow my medal.
‘They said it would be in a reinforced glass case so there was no need to worry, so I gave them my memorabilia and medal.’
Miss Howie, 47, from Ayr, said she was heartbroken after receiving a call informing her of the break-in.
She added: ‘Curling has had a great year, the exhibition was fantastic to promote our sport and then I thought, “Oh no, I’ve just lost my medal”.
‘This theft of my medal means a lot to my family, to the whole of Britain.’
The raiders used crowbars to break through a metal shutter to gain access to the building. The robbery took 1 minute 40 seconds, as the thieves knew where the items were located.
Detective Inspector Brian Lee of Police Scotland said: ‘The medals may have gone to jewellers or collectors.
‘But the worst-case scenario is that they may have gone to scrap metal dealers and melted down. The value of gold is far less than the value of a medal that has inspired a nation.’