SWIMMING great Ian Thorpe was in rehab for clinical depression today after a mixture of painkillers and anti-depressants left him disoriented on a Sydney street, his manager said.
But James Erskine insisted no alcohol was involved, as the swimmer’s father expressed confidence his son would “come out the other side”.
Erskine told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the five-time Olympic gold medallist was now receiving treatment for depression, a condition Thorpe 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 because he was wandering around at 3 o’clock in the morning,” he said.
Residents rang police after Thorpe tried to get into a car he thought belonged to a friend.
“The police came; they were fantastic, they realised it was Ian Thorpe and they called an ambulance.”
As well as being open about his depression, Thorpe detailed a battle with alcohol in his 2012 autobiography, but Erskine said it was not a factor in yesterday’s incident.
“There was no alcohol involved, he hadn’t been drinking or anything like that,” he said.
“The hospital then suggested – or more than suggested, I think – that he should go into rehab for depression and that’s what’s happened.”
