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Courier Mail
by: DANIEL PIOTROWSKI, NICK BOND and AAP
February 04, 2014 4:28AM
OLYMPIC champion Ian Thorpe is in rehab after being found disorientated at 3am on a combination of antidepressants and medication for a shoulder injury.
His admission to hospital comes days after his management denied the swimming great was in rehab battling depression and alcohol abuse.
A police spokeswoman told news.com.au emergency services were called to a home in Panania at 3.15am.
Police spoke to Thorpe, who was sitting in a vehicle outside the home, and he was then taken to Bankstown hospital for assessment.
Thorpe was admitted to rehab for depression, said Thorpe’s manager, James Erskine.
“The hospital insisted he went to rehab,” Mr Erskine told news.com.au on Monday night.
According to Ten, a 14-year-old boy heard a noise in the yard and came out onto the street to investigate.
The boy alerted his father who found a man attempting to break into the family’s van.
The man called police at which stage they found Thorpe sitting in a car further down the street. Mr Erskine said the five-time Olympic gold medallist had thought he was sitting in his friend’s car.
“The owner of the car basically called the police and the police came,” he said. “They realised it was Ian Thorpe.
“They realised he was disoriented.” Mr Erskine said Thorpe, 31, had been taking antidepressants and medication for his shoulder.
“He hadn’t had a drink,” he said. “He had zero alcohol in him.”
The family is not pressing charges, police told news.com.au.
“No official complaint has been made, and no further police action is anticipated,” a spokeswoman said.
This comes after Thorpe – Australia’s greatest Olympian – was admitted to a Sydney hospital last week to fight his decade-long battle with depression and alcohol abuse.
Thorpe left hospital care for home early on Friday, having been under medical supervision since Wednesday night.
The champion swimmer spent time at Bankstown Hospital and Strathfield Private Hospital in the latest chapter of his grave fight against illness.
His manager denied he was in rehab and claimed he was in hospital for a shoulder operation.