Three gold medals have been stolen from the home of former Olympic swimmer Melissa Belote, who won them as a 15-year-old at the 1972 games in Munich. Belote, now 53, normally kept the medals in a safety-deposit box, but had put them underneath clothes in a dresser drawer at her Tempe home after taking them to an elementary school for a presentation. Tempe police Sgt. Steve Carbajal said that one or more thieves broke into Belote's home sometime during the day by prying open a back window. They stole the medals, an iPod, some cash, and jewelry, but left other things like computers and TVs. Belote, who now coaches children and teens in swim, told The Associated Press on Thursday that when she found out her medals were taken, she “wept like a baby.” “My medals are the culmination of a journey I started as a young girl with a dream to just get in the water and swim.” The medals are engraved with Belote's name, and have Munich and two Xs on them to represent the 20th Olympiad.
