Good Samaritan Turns In Olympian's Missing Gold Medal

But just before Fox 29 News at 5 went on the air came a phone call from Hansen’s dad with great news: his son was en route to reclaim the medal.

Last Friday, Hansen appeared on “Good Day Philadelphia” and showed viewers his big prize, the gold medal he won last month in Beijing in the 4x100 medley relay with Michael Phelps.

Hansen said he always keeps a close eye on the medal. However, word came Monday that he had lost sight of the gold for about 24 hours.

Hansen puts the gold in a small, black, velvet box when he travels.

When he placed that box in a pocket of his backpack, which he carried with him as he went through airport security on Sunday, surveillance video showed a TSA agent pulling the box out to admire the gold, showing it to a co-worker, and then putting it back in the backpack.

During a phone interview Monday afternoon, Hansen was asked what it would mean to him to get his medal back.

Hansen said he has been “showing to a lot of people that I’m not the kind of person that puts it into a safety deposit box and never lets anyone see it.

“It would mean a lot to me because I have a lot of things I’m doing in the next couple of months that are really important to me, and it’s important that the medal’s there with me to show, you know, when I got to hospitals and visit with kids and when I go and try to inspire the people with the medal and everything, it’s a huge part of what the post- Olympics is all about,” he said.