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Police arrested a 47-year-old man and charged him with stealing four Olympic medals belonging to an Australian rowing athlete – but the awards are still missing.
Three gold and one silver medal won by rower Drew Ginn of Australia’s popular “Oarsome Foursome” rowing team were stolen from the back of a black Land Rover on 6 September, reports said.
The incident happened sometime between 9pm on Thursday to 5am the next day when the car was parked at Cumberland Street in Docklands.
The man was arrested on Wednesday in Brunswick, a northern suburb of Melbourne, police said.
“He has subsequently been charged with theft from motor vehicle, obtaining property by deception, obtaining financial advantage by deception and handling stolen goods,” police said in a statement.
A GoPro camera, Sony headphones, and a Rip Curl wetsuit were among the other items that were stolen from the car.
“Neither the Olympic medals or any of the other allegedly stolen property have been recovered at this time,” police said.
The medals were won by Ginns during his 20-year Olympic career which began with him winning a gold in the Atlanta 1996 Games, alongside Mike McKay, James Tomkins and Nick Green. He later went on to win a silver at London 2012 and a gold in Sydney 2000, followed by gold medals in pair events at Athens 2004 and in Beijing 2008.
He was visiting a school for a speaking engagement as part of his efforts to show the medals to school children. He has visited more than 150 schools in the past two decades.
The Olympian told ABC Radio: "They were hidden away in the car but the car was ransacked completely so lots of stuff was broken and destroyed.”
"It seemed like someone on the street had come past the car and maybe was targeting cars in Docklands and sort of hit the jackpot with the gold medals being in there."
He said he was hopeful that the medals would be returned to him as they hold lot of value for family and friends.
"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."
Detective Sergeant Timothy Reiher from the Melbourne Crime Investigation Unit said the medals were “unbelievably rare items with significant sentimental value”.
"We ask that people look out for these medals in pawn shops and online selling platforms."
