KEY POINTS:
A sporting triumph turned to tears for Christchurch schoolgirl Jess Gibson when the van she was travelling in was emptied by thieves.
Jess, 15, was part of a team that travelled to Hamilton to compete at the New Zealand Competitive Aerobics Federation Champion-ships in the second week of the school holidays.
It was the first time Jess, who only took up aerobics last year, had competed at the national level and she was thrilled to win a bronze in the senior female novice individual category.
However her success was soured when her bronze medal was stolen.
Her new camera - which contained photos of Jess competing and receiving her medal - and her aerobics costumes were also stolen.
"As a treat we travelled from Hamilton to Auckland to go to Rainbow's End (a theme park). We locked everything in the boot, out of sight, in the morning and when we came back we realised all our bags were gone," she said.
"At first I thought it was all a big joke and someone would come around the corner at any minute with all our stuff, but it wasn't a joke."
Jess, who is a Year 11 student at St Margaret's College, said she was "really upset" when she realised her medal and camera were gone.
"They (the thieves) took stuff that was really important to us, like my medal, and didn't mean a thing to them."
The other girls who travelled with Jess - Alyssa Daley and Chanel Moore - had taken their medals out with them, however they lost both luggage and handbags in the theft.
"We had to work really hard for some of the things that were stolen, like my camera that I saved for ages to get, and they didn_t have to work a second to get our stuff - it's really unfair," said Jess.
Jess's mother Anne Gibson, who did not travel to the competition, said the theft was a shock for her daughter. "It was really awful for her; an awful end to such a good week for the girls," she said.
"The worst thing is that she hasn't got her medal, it's a real pain and she is really disappointed."
Jess said she had contacted the event organisers to see if she could get a replacement medal, however they could not help her. "The regional co-ordinator said I could go and pick another medal up but it would only be a regional medal, not a national one. It wouldn't be the same," she said.
Jess said the incident hadn't put her off aerobics and she had already started training for next year's competitions. "I'm trying to move on and I'm looking forward to learning my new routines for next year," she said.
"We're just lucky that nothing happened to us, it was only our material things that were lost.
"We're all OK and that's what really matters," she said.
- Christchurch Star
