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Paris - French 400m indoor champion Toumany Coulibaly was charged over a series of burglaries on Thursday and released on bail, police have confirmed.
Coulibaly, 27, was arrested on Tuesday in Evry, south of Paris, and remanded in custody after questioning about a string of burglaries last summer, according to RTL radio station.
RTL said a number of jewellers, telephone shops and do-it-yourself stores had been targeted.
Coulibaly previously told Le Parisien newspaper in an interview that "athletics saved me" from a life of crime.
It's not the first time Coulibaly has been implicated in burglaries.
In February 2013 he had a sentence for involvement in the burglary of more than 30 chemists in the southern suburbs of Paris commuted.
A year later he was jailed for theft and breaking and entering following a car chase with police.
But in February this year he became French 400m indoor champion, claiming that he would sort his life out as he had a "huge opportunity with respect to my family, my town. You can't throw it all away.".
The father of two added: "It's up to me to take the right path, seize my opportunity. It's a promise I made to myself and my two kids."
