bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Reuters

Australian swimming great Grant Hackett has flown to the United States to have treatment for an addiction to a sleeping medication, his manager said.
Hackett, who won 1,500 metres freestyle gold at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, created headlines in Australia this week after being found topless and disoriented at Melbourne’s Crown Casino early on Saturday morning.
“Grant is currently in transit to seek treatment for a dependency to Stilnox medication,” his manager Chris White said.
“His family and friends are enormously proud of his courage in pursuing this course of action.”
Hackett publicly admitted to a dependency to Stilnox in the leadup to the 2012 London Games, prompting the Australian Olympic Committee to ban athletes from using it.
The 33-year-old touched down in Los Angeles on Tuesday but denied he was entering a rehabilitation clinic.
“No, not as such ... I’m just going away for a break and looking forward to enjoying myself,” he told reporters at the airport.
“It’s a bit of an exaggeration ... I’m not calling this rehab whatsoever. This is a retreat to get away for a while, to recharge the batteries which I’ve been planning for some time.”

	He thinks he just needs a bit of a recharge and a rest. I’d say rehab is certainly something that’s needed there.

	Father Neville Hackett
Hackett’s father said his son was in “a little bit of denial.”
“He thinks he just needs a bit of a recharge and a rest,” Neville Hackett said.
“I’d say rehab is certainly something that’s needed there.”
Hackett’s flight follows the troubles of another Australian swimming great Ian Thorpe, who checked into a health clinic earlier this month to seek treatment for depression.
The five-times Olympic champion, widely regarded Australia’s finest swimmer, had been taking anti-depressants and medication for a shoulder injury.
Hackett, who has worked as a television pundit and for a local bank since retiring from swimming after the 2008 Beijing Games, was photographed shirtless in the lobby of Crown Casino where he was staying at a friend’s apartment.
He told local media he had rushed out of the apartment to look for his four-year-old son after waking up to find him missing.
Though Stilnox was banned for Australian Olympians, members of the country’s 4x100m men’s freestyle team took the sedative as part of an unofficial “bonding” exercise in the leadup to London and were later fined after an investigation.


Australian swimming great Grant Hackett heading to rehab

Five-times Olympic champion addicted to sleeping medicine, says manager

Australian swimming great Grant Hackett heading to rehab

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Five-times Olympic champion addicted to sleeping medicine, says manager

Five-times Olympic champion addicted to sleeping medicine, says manager