KEY POINTS:
Former Olympic athlete Jeff Julian's gold medals have been stolen by thieves.
The long-distance runner, 71, had a successful career from the 1950s to the 1970s alongside Peter Snell and Murray Halberg.
This month burglars stole 10 national championship golds and another from the South African Games from his Mt Roskill home, in west Auckland.
"I feel absolutely gutted that people have come and taken away my lifetime achievements for monetary gain," he told Auckland's Central Leader newspaper.
"I'm astounded that such low-spirited people would stoop to this kind of endeavour."
The thieves were selective and only picked out the gold medals.
They also took a "reasonable amount" of cash but left up to 30 bronze and silver medals and a number of trophies and cups.
Mr Julian was trained by the late Arthur Lydiard and competed alongside Snell, Halberg and Barry Magee at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
His fastest marathon time was two hours, 14 minutes and 38 seconds at Fukuoka, Japan in 1969.
The New Zealand golds were for marathon, cross-country and 10-mile road races between 1963 and 1972.
- NZPA
