Australian Olympic diver Matthew
Mitcham reveals in his autobiography that he battled depression and
an addiction to crystal meth after winning gold during the 2008
Beijing Olympics.
In Twists and Turns, the
24-year-old openly gay Mitcham talks about his addiction and how he
overcame it.
Mitcham said during a Google+ hangout
that he had previously suffered from depression, and that being an
elite athlete gave him access to treatment.
“I was predisposed to depression
before I was ever in the spotlight,” he said. “You know, I went
3 years of self-harm and binge drinking before I was even on the
radar at all. As far as the chicken and the egg goes, I already had
these problems before I was an athlete.”
But becoming an athlete, Mitcham said,
contributed because “I had that athlete mentality that it was a
weakness and that I didn't want to reach out and tell anybody about
it.”
“Now, it's actually helped me a lot
being an elite athlete I suppose because I had the resources to go to
a rehab center and to see a psychologist twice a week since then.
That's probably helped me. I needed to get my shit together really,
if I wanted to keep diving.” (The video is embedded on this page.
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