Quincy Detenamo, 25, made a brief appearance in Melbourne Magistrates Court and was remanded in custody until another appearance scheduled for August 16, Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio reported.
He did not apply for bail and was not required to enter a plea.
Detenamo was charged over the murder of a Melbourne street prostitute, whose battered body was discovered in a suburban lane last month.
He was arrested at Melbourne airport on Tuesday after voluntarily returning from a trip to the tiny South Pacific island nation of Nauru.
Detenamo competed at Atlanta in 1996, when his tiny Pacific Island nation appeared at the Olympics for the first time.