Ian Thorpe, Australia’s most decorated Olympian, has checked into rehabilitation for depression after a mixture of painkillers and anti-depressants left him disoriented on a Sydney street.
His manager James Erskine insisted no alcohol was involved, as the swimmer’s father suggested he faced months of treatment but would “come out the other side”.
A “dazed” Thorpe, 31, was discovered by police attempting to get into a car near his parents’ house in the early hours of Monday and was taken to hospital for assessment.
It was his second recent visit to hospital, after falling and needing shoulder surgery last week.
Erskine told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the five-time Olympic gold medallist was now receiving treatment for depression, a condition he has struggled with for years.
“He’d been taking prescribed drugs, painkillers for his shoulder and he’s also on prescription drugs for anti-depression ... but it’s obviously a mixture of it, and that mixture made him disorientated,” he said.
Thorpe’s father, Ken, told the Sydney Daily Telegraph he was optimistic his son would pull through.
“He is battling with his health issues at the moment and he is having a tough time,” he said.
“But hopefully in six months’ time he will be out the other side.”
The Swimming Australia president John Bertrand said the organisation would do all it could to support Thorpe.
“He has a very serious illness and we will endeavour to give all the support we can, through his friends, through his peers,” he said.
Thorpe won five gold medals at the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Games. He became the first person to win six gold medals at one world championships, in 2001, among 11 world titles overall – along with 10 Commonwealth Games gold medals.
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