satoshi

Reported as stolen at one point, Satoshi Shimizu’s 2012 bronze Olympic medal has been recovered. The boxer found it while unpacking after moving!

In 2012, Satoshi Shimizu and Ryōta Murata became the first Japanese boxers to medal at the Olympics since 1968, making Shimizu’s bronze disc incredibly valuable. Unfortunately, said medal went missing after an event at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in March 2013, which led to a report of theft being filed with the police. We can only imagine how distraught Shimizu must have been about the loss of the medal — we definitely would have spent a few days crying into a bottle of cheap bourbon.

However, nearly three years later, Shimizu had a stroke of luck: he found the long-lost medal while unpacking after moving.

▼ But we don’t imagine anyone will be making fun of him for it for some reason…

Yesterday, the boxer posted an apology on his Facebook page, explaining that the medal had been between some clothes inside a clothes chest for the last three years. He went on to say that the report of theft had been withdrawn, while also extending an apology to everyone at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium and all who had supported him. Finally, he promised not to let a mistake like this happen again and to do his best to at the next Olympics, which will be in Rio de Janeiro this year.

While it might be a bit embarrassing for Shimizu, we have to applaud his taking ownership of the situation and publicly stating what happened. And we definitely want to wish him good luck in the upcoming Olympics!

Hopefully he’ll have better luck competing in 2016 than the Japanese committee has had building the stadium for the 2020 Summer Olympics…

Sources: Facebook/Satoshi Shimizu, Asahi Shinbun
Featured image: Facebook/Satoshi Shimizu