Legend of distance swimming John Konrads, coached by Don Talbot in the first golden era of Australia swimming in the 1950s and 1960s and 1960 1500m Olympic champion, had no intention of locking away his medals in a cupboard after police recovered them 24 years after they were stolen from his home. 

The thieves took Konrads' gains for ill-gotten gains back in 1985 and it took until 2009 for the medals to reappear. "When I rediscovered them, I realised how important they were," Konrads said, revealing to reporters Down Under that retrieving his medals at a police station near Geelong had been "very emotional". Police swooped when a woman tried to sell the medals to a collector in the US. "It was almost like being up there on the dias the first time," Konrads said of the moment he was told that his medals had been recovered.

Now, the prizes are on display at a museum in Canberra that paid $37,078 for the Konrads collection.  "I don't want to put them in my vault, I don't want them in my attic," Konrads, now 69, said of his medals at the unveiling of his collection at the museum. He said that he would have liked to donate the medals to the museum but the financial crisis had taken a toll on his finances and the money would come in handy - not that he should need to justify the sale of what he earned. 

The former swimmer, whose sister Ilsa was also a world-record holder in distance freestyle, said that he was happy to think that his collection would not suffer the same fate as that of fellow Australian Olympic champion Freddie Lane, winner of two gold medals at the 1900 Olympic Games. Lane lost trophies and an Art Deco bronze horse statue when his home was destroyed by fire.

Konrads also lost a treasured memory: a picture of himself with boxer Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) at the 1960 Olympic Games. "I had a photo on my own camera, which I have lost, of him and me with our golds around our necks," said Konrads.

His thoughts also strayed to the Games ahead, London 2012, and prospects for an Australian men's team he had faith in. "The sprinters are looking good," Konrads told reporters. I don't think we should underestimate people like Geoff Huegill and particularly Ian Thorpe  … he wouldn't do this [comeback] if he didn't have a chance of doing his personal best. He's not counting his chickens before they hatch."

As to the absence of serious Australian challengers in distance freestyle events Konrads felt that the towering achievements of Thorpe and Grant Hackett were no impediment to future success, saying: "Disappointing to see no one in the men's distance. I don't accept the theory no one was interested in men's distance because Thorpie and Hackett were in the way. It's the other way around, kids get inspired by champions."