August 02, 2006	Wednesday	Rajab 6, 1427

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BRISBANE, Aug 1: Police have recovered two of Tatiana Grigorieva's stolen Olympic and Commonwealth Games medals. The Russian-born Australian pole vaulter won the Olympic silver medal at Sydney 2000 and the gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games at Manchester, England.

Those and medals from the world championships and other memorabilia were stored in a safe that was stolen from a Brisbane office on July 18.

Queensland state police on Tuesday said the Olympic medal and the 2002 Manchester medal were recovered when officers executed a search warrant in the eastern outskirts of the city.

Grigorieva, who is competing in Europe, was said to be “deeply distressed” when the mementoes went missing and had described the stolen items as her “life in a box.”

Former Australian women's field hockey captain Katrina Powell had two Olympic gold medals stolen from her home in Perth, Western Australia, around the same time.

Powell said none of her belongings had been recovered.

“I'm still holding out hope that they're not bad people and the items are returned,” she said.

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates last month offered to replace both women's Olympic medals. The International Olympic Committee has molds of the medals from past Games.—AP