Photo / GettyFormer Australian Olympian Matthew Mitcham has detailed the "crippling" addiction to crystal meth that plagued his diving career after the 2008 Games in Beijing. In an exclusive interview with BBC Sport, Mitcham discussed his troubled past with drugs and suicidal thoughts, which were typically triggered by a "post-Games comedown". "I would literally block my nose and drink, drink, drink because the aim wasn't to get drunk, it was to throw up and pass out quicker than I did the week before," Mitcham told the BBC. After briefly quitting diving, Mitcham made a comeback to the sport just 15 months before the Beijing Games in 2008. Having gone public with his sexuality in the lead-up to the Games, Mitcham cemented his spot in history as the first openly gay male Olympic champion.

Source: New Zealand Herald February 26, 2021 22:09 UTC