JAMES DEGALE HAS appealed for help after claiming the Olympic gold medal he won at the 2008 Beijing Games and his MBE were stolen from his parents’ house during the Euro 2020 final on Sunday evening.
DeGale overcame Emilio Correa in the middleweight final, having previously defeated Mohamed Hikal, Shawn Estrada, Bakhtiyar Artayev and the late Darren Sutherland, to capture Britain’s only boxing gold of the Games 13 years ago.
The Londoner was appointed MBE in the 2009 New Year Honours, but he posted images and a video on Instagram of someone dressed in black approaching the door of his parents’ house before obscuring the CCTV camera.
The former two-time super-middleweight champion revealed the incident happened as England were playing Italy in the final of the European Championship, which the Three Lions lost on penalties following a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes.
DeGale, 35, wrote: “My parent’s house got burgled last night whilst our boys were trying to bring it home!
“He took two of my prize possessions MY OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL AND MY MBE. They are worthless to anyone other than me and they are two achievements that I prize from my boxing career.
“I am gutted and need my medals back. Can anyone help by reporting any information you have. Please share far and wide.”
DeGale turned professional six months after topping the podium in China and became the first British Olympic champion to win a world title after capturing the vacant IBF super-middleweight crown in April 2015.
He retired on 28 February, 2019, exactly 10 years after making his debut in the paid ranks, just days after dropping a points decision to British compatriot Chris Eubank Jr.
He bowed out of the sport with a record of 25 wins, three defeats and one draw.
