Thorpe in rehab for alcohol issue

Australia’s Olympic champion swimmer Ian Thorpe has been admitted to a rehab centre here to fight his decade-long battle with depression and alcohol abuse.

The 31-year-old was injured in a fall earlier this week and was admitted to hospital on Wednesday. The former Olympian remains in the care of specialists as he faces his well-publicised battle against depression and alcohol abuse.

In his autobiography published in 2012, Thorpe said he had struggled with the same.
“Not even my family is aware that I’ve spent a lot of my life battling what I can only describe as crippling depression,” wrote Thorpe, who has won five Olympic golds, most by an Australian but failed in his bid to make a comeback at the 2012 London Olympics.
A close friend of Thorpe said Thursday that he had an accident at home.

“He slipped and hurt himself. We’re hoping he’s going to be okay and make a full recovery,” the friend said.

Broadcaster Alan Jones, one of Thorpe’s closest friends, said the swimmer had been going through some problems recently.

“It’s serious but there’s not a lot I can or want to add. Ian is a beautiful person but he has difficulty recognising his problems,” Jones said.