Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham celebrates seven years sober and says he’s “the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been”.
Olympic jumper Matthew Mitcham celebrated seven years sober on Monday.
The 34-year-old announced the milestone on his Instagram page, saying he was “the happiest and healthiest he’s ever been.”
“Today I’m SEVEN YEARS clean and sober,” Matthew wrote.
Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham celebrated seven years sober and said he was “the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been”.
“It’s been seven years since I put anything stronger than a Panadol on my body and I am without a doubt the happiest and healthiest I have ever been.”
He continued, “Not everyone needs sobriety, but I did it because I was dependent on external things to solve internal problems. And although I still have internal problems, I now have internal solutions.’
“I hope everyone had (or is still having) a fun Christmas season and if one day you wake up and think ‘enough is enough’ like I did seven years ago, just know there’s a lot of help out there ‘if you ask for it.’
The 34-year-old announced the milestone on his Instagram page, writing, “Today I’m SEVEN YEARS clean and sober.”
Matthew has previously opened up about his struggle with alcohol and crystal meth as he struggled with a “post-games comedown” after the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
In his final free skate, Mitcham set an Olympic record for a single jump – 112 – to stun the home crowd.
In doing so, Queensland native Mitcham made history by becoming the first openly gay male Olympic champion.
After his triumph in Beijing, Mitcham developed an addiction to the drug ice cream when he realized that despite his Olympic success, he was not world number one in the world rankings.
“It has been seven years since I put anything stronger than a panadol in my body and I am without a doubt the happiest and healthiest person I have ever been,” he wrote
Incredibly, Mitcham felt like a failure and soon found himself training and competing while juggling a crippling drug addiction.
“Knowing I was going to be drug tested at every competition, I would detox from drugs in the weeks leading up to the competition and go through these horrible withdrawal symptoms,” he told the BBC.
“They were so bad I would have made a promise to myself with every cell in my body I wouldn’t use again, but I could never keep the promise.
‘It was getting dark. My self-esteem was shattered, sometimes it seemed like the easiest thing to do was kill myself, but I ended up going to rehab.”
Matthew has previously opened up about his struggle with alcohol and crystal meth as he struggled with a “post-games comedown” after the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Pictured is Matthew and his husband Luke Mitcham