Janine Rankin-Abbott says she feels like a part of her history has been taken away after awards, memorabilia and uniforms were stolen from the former Olympian’s home earlier this summer.
Rankin-Abbott, who is still recovering from major surgery to her skull, was a member of the Canadian national gymnastics team from age 10 to 22 years old and competed in four world championships and the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympic Games.
The 51-year-old has two moves in the sport named after her. She counts several awards among her achievements at the international, national and provincial levels.
It’s many of those same awards that are now the source of much pain after they were reported stolen earlier this summer.
“A part of my history is missing, and I don’t really see how important it would be to other people. To me, it’s my story and the things I worked really, really hard to achieve, and now it’s a broken story. There are pieces missing,” she said.
Police say they were notified on July 4 about the theft from a home in the Township of Chatsworth, Ont.
Among the items reported stolen are several Canadian national championship medals for gymnastics, other international competition medals, and some for Ontario provincial championship awards.
The thief also took memorabilia, including national and Olympic gymnastics team clothing and uniforms for Team Canada, framed enlargements of the 1992 Olympics, and national souvenirs from several international competitions between 1982 to 1993, among other items.
Rankin-Abbott says many of the items were still in boxes as they worked to create an area to display the cherished mementoes in her new home and clothing from her family closets.
“This is the first time I was getting set to display everything the way I wanted to display it and pick out the things that stood out in my mind the most and the most important to me, and I don’t have a chance to do that now,” she said in an interview.
Rankin-Abbott suspects the items were taken after she was recovering from surgery by someone or someone hired to help around her home. She says she and her husband reported their suspicions to the police, who have not made any arrests.
“I called the police and explained that we started looking around and realizing clothes out of our closet were missing, but then every drawer, things were missing, every storage area, things were missing. Then ultimately seeing that my gymnastics stuff was missing was what hit my heart and saw the most,” she said.
Grey Bruce of Ontario Provincial Police Const. Krista Linthorne says they cannot divulge any information on this case as it’s still an active investigation, and they are investigating all tips from the victim and Crime Stoppers.
“I only had a few things sitting out, and a lot of it was still in boxes and at least two if not three large boxes of medals, trophies, plaques, framed awards and certificates have gone,” Rankin-Abbott said.
Rankin-Abbott is hopeful that due to the unique nature of the things stolen that they would be easy to identify if someone tries to sell them.
Stolen medals:
- 1988 Canadian National Championship
- 1986 Elite Canada Competition
- 1984 Ontario Provincial Championships
- 1989 National Championships
- 1992 Yeomen Gymnastics Classic
- 1987 Canadian National Gymnastics Championships (Winnipeg)
- 1991 Canadian National Gymnastics Championship (Saskatoon)
- Queen’s University Golden Gales
- 1985 National Championships (Vancouver)
- 1989 Ljubljana Yugoslavia Beam
- 1992 Ontario Gymnastics Championships
- 1990 Canadian National Championships (Halifax)
- 1988 Kraft International Competition (London, England)
Stolen memorabilia:
- national and Olympic gymnastic team clothing and uniforms
- T-shirts, tracksuits, winter coat, red and white Canadian tracksuit (arena brand)
- long, light blue coat and long red coat
- framed enlargements from 1992 Olympics
- wood-burned gymnast wood plate from Ljubljana, Yugoslavia
- national souvenirs from China, Hong Kong, Korea, Macau, Australia, Austria, France, Belgium, Germany, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, England, Lichtenstein, 1982-1993
- one box of 1992 Olympic memorabilia
Members of the Grey Bruce OPP are asking that anyone who has any information about the theft contact police at 1-888-310-1122.