A 47-year-old man has been charged over the alleged theft of Olympic medals belonging to "Oarsome Foursome" rowing team member Drew Ginn.

Three gold and one silver medal were stolen from a black four-wheel drive parked on Cumberland Street in the Docklands sometime between 9pm on Thursday, September 6, and 5am Friday, September 7.

They included his gold medal from the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

The Olympian told ABC Radio Melbourne he was visiting a school on Friday for a speaking engagement, and had the medals in his car.

"They were hidden away in the car but the car was ransacked completely so lots of stuff was broken and destroyed," he said.

"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."

A Rip Curl wetsuit, GoPro camera and headphones were also allegedly stolen from Ginn's car.

On Wednesday afternoon, Brunswick police arrested a man from Windsor, who has been charged with theft from a motor vehicle, obtaining property by deception, obtaining financial advantage by deception and handling stolen goods.

None of the allegedly stolen property has yet been recovered.

Earlier, Ginn said he was hopeful the medals would be returned.

"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."

Victoria Police said it was investigating the theft of the medals and other items in the car.

"These are unbelievably rare items with significant sentimental value," said Detective Sergeant Timothy Reiher from the Melbourne Crime Investigation Unit.

"We ask that people look out for these medals in pawn shops and online selling platforms."

The Windsor man is scheduled to face Melbourne Magistrates' Court on November 29.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.