A man has been arrested and charged over the alleged theft of four Olympic medals.
The medals, three gold and one silver from four successive Olympics, were allegedly stolen from Oarsome Foursome rower Drew Ginn’s car in Melbourne’s Docklands.
Police confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that a 47-year-old Windsor man had been arrested in Brunswick over the alleged theft.
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The medals had been left in Ginn’s car, on Cumberland Street, after he gave a talk at a school on Friday.
They were allegedly stolen between 9pm Thursday and 5am on Friday.
“They were hidden away in the car but the car was (allegedly) ransacked completely so lots of stuff was broken and destroyed,” Ginn told ABC Radio on Wednesday.
The rower said it was hard to put a dollar value on the medals.
“They’ve got a lot of value for family and friends but you can’t insure them,” he said.
The legendary Oarsome Foursome was a series of Australian rowing coxless four crews, with Ginn taking part in later combinations which won gold at the Atlanta 1996 and silver at London 2012.
He also won gold medals in pair events at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.
“There might be a market out there for this kind of thing but you’d hope sensibility would play out and in the end I know other medals have been returned in years gone by, so we hope that that happens in this case,” Ginn said.
Detective Sergeant Timothy Reiher said the items were “unbelievably rare items with significant sentimental value”.
“Olympic medals are awarded to the best of the best and are priceless to their recipients,” Det Sgt Reiher said.
Other items allegedly stolen from the vehicle included a Rip Curl wetsuit, a Go Pro camera and Sony headphones.
The man is also accused of going on a spending spree with Ginn’s credit card.
The man has now been charged with theft from a motor vehicle, obtaining property by deception, obtaining financial advantage by deception, and handling stolen goods.
He will face the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on November 29.
At the time of writing, police said the Olympic medals or any of the other allegedly stolen property had not been recovered.
Ginn is appealing to the public for any assistance in the search for his medals.
He is not, however, prepared to pay a reward for the medals, believing it sets a bad precedent.
– With Cameron Noakes