Curious 6-year-old girl finds Olympic gold medal in trash

ATLANTA -- A little girl in Atlanta found an Olympic gold medal in the trash. But it's what six-year-old Chloe Smith did next that's getting all the praise.

The Smith family loves to go on long walks, but father Wayne always has to keep an eye on his 6-year-old daughter Chloe.

"Chloe! Why are you always picking up things? Didn't we tell you not to put your hands on stuff so much?" Smith would frequently say to his daughter.

But one day last month, on a road lined with garbage, Chloe did just that and found something out of the ordinary among the detritus.

This is what she plucked from the ground - a gold medal from the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona belonging to whitewater canoe slalom champion Joe Jacobi.

"I feel happy," Chloe said about finding the medal and returning it. "I feel excited."

"What a tremendous young person. She is so giving. So kind," said Jacobi of Chloe.

A thief broke into Jacobi's car outside an Atlanta restaurant a few weeks before and stole several items, including the medal. His laptop and other possessions were found soon after, but not the medal. That is until Chloe did something she really wasn't supposed to do - pick up stuff that was thrown on the ground.

"And out of all this trash right here, she finds gold!" said her father. "My daughter did her first good deed. Because if not for her being so nosey and into stuff all the time, she's the one who found it. And here's the 'finder' right here!"

Six-year-old Chloe, who had her hands on history, and returned the gold medal to its rightful owner.