Former Olympic figure skater Surya Bonaly—a trailblazer who defied gravity and convention with her backflips on ice—says that nearly everything that symbolized her historic career has been taken from her.

In a post shared to Instagram on November 7, Bonaly said her Las Vegas home had been burglarized while she was in Minnesota caring for her mother, who is battling lung, breast, and sternum cancer. “You see all those medals that I won in the past while competing in different worlds and European championships are sadly gone,” she wrote. “Several days ago someone—I mean a couple—burglarized my home and stole all my valuable[s].”

Bonaly, 51, told FOX5 Vegas that the theft happened over several consecutive days. Surveillance footage reportedly shows multiple people entering her home, taking down security cameras, and smashing windows. “I realized that my medals were gone,” she said. “European champion or world champion, junior, everything — any medals that I had with my skating.”

The five-time European champion and nine-time French national champion said the burglars appeared to be organized, even wearing what looked like a delivery vest. One of those vests, Bonaly later discovered, had been discarded just a street away from her house. “I think it’s definitely organized by a company or by some bad people,” she said.

Bonaly’s loss is more than material—it’s deeply personal. These weren’t just medals; they were a record of a defiant and singular career. Born in France, she competed in three Winter Olympics and became known for her athleticism, power, and a signature move that broke the sport’s norms: a backflip landed on one blade. Judges couldn’t always reward it under the rules, but audiences around the world never forgot it.

Now, at a time when she’s focused on caregiving and her own health—Bonaly herself is undergoing treatment for breast cancer—she’s confronting the loss of the tangible reminders of a lifetime’s work. “I feel like sometimes I want to cry,” she said. “Some people just feel like it’s better to steal something from someone than to go to work.”

Bonaly filed a police report with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s =Summerlin Area Command, which confirmed to local outlets that the investigation is ongoing. She has asked pawn shops and residents to keep an eye out for her medals, urging anyone who spots foreign gold or silver medals for sale to contact police immediately.

“I’m hoping that I can find maybe some medals,” she said. “I’m hoping, and I pray really that no one’s gonna melt that medal.”