South Africa's Olympic champion Ryk Neethling has his medals stolen when his home was robbed in the early hours of Friday.

The robbery of at least 20 medals, including Commonwealth and world golds, took place at his northern Johannesburg town house, and was reported by Talk Radio 702.

Neethling, a member of the South African 4x100m freestyle relay team that won gold in a world record time at the 2004 Athens Olympics, is currently in Sweden.

Fortunately for Neethling, his Olympic gold was not stolen as it was not at the house.

"It's almost impossible to insure those kind of medals," Neethling told the radio station from Sweden.

"The robbers aren't going to find any gold in there but they are irreplaceable."