The taxi driver involved in the collision that claimed the life of mountain bike ace Burry Stander appeared in the Port Shepstone Magistrate's Court on Monday.

National Prosecuting Authority spokeswoman Natasha Ramkisson said Njabulo Nyawose faced a charge of culpable homicide or an alternative charge of reckless and negligent driving.

He was released on warning and ordered to appear back in court on March 22.

Stander was killed last Thursday in Shelley Beach on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast in a collision with the taxi allegedly driven by Nyawose.

Stander, 25, was fifth in the men's cross country race at the 2012 London Olympics.

Four years earlier, at the Beijing Games, he had proved his ability when he finished 15th in the cross country event at the age of 20. The following season he rose to prominence on the global stage when he won the Under-23 title in the Mountainbike World Cup series.

In 2011, Stander became the first South African to win the Cape Epic stage race in the Western Cape, with Swiss partner Christoph Sauser, and the pair defended their title in 2012.