Former Olympic swimmer Scott Miller has said he was introduced to drugs through his relationship with his ex-wife Charlotte Dawson before falling into addiction and ending up in jail.
Miller, 49, was sentenced on Friday in Sydney’s Downing Center District Court for running an ice supply ring in 2020 in Sydney’s inner west, where drugs were hidden in containers of instant noodles.
The silver medalist had pleaded guilty to supplying a large commercial quantity of drugs and running a criminal group.
He was sentenced to four years and a one-year non-parole period.
With his sentence already served, Miller could be a free man next Wednesday.
During a court appearance Friday, Miller submitted an affidavit claiming that his 1999 courtship and marriage to late television host and socialite Dawson set him on a dark path.
Dawson took his own life in 2014, the day after Miller turned 39.
Former Olympic swimmer Scott Miller has said he was introduced to drugs through his relationship with ex-wife Charlotte Dawson before spiraling into addiction and ending up in jail.
“Charlotte was involved in the fashion and media industry and it was in the context of my exposure to the lifestyle that my wife’s social and work connections allowed me that I was first introduced to personal drug use,” Miller wrote, the Daily Telegraph reported.
“Although it was not significant, in retrospect I realize that it was (the) beginning of my long and disastrous relationship with drug abuse.”
The marriage between Dawson and Miller, who As a butterfly swimmer he won a silver and bronze medal in Atlanta 1996. The Olympic Games did not last long and ended after a few years.
Miller blamed his new lifestyle for not being selected for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
“This failure … was also a factor in the deterioration of my marriage, which ended after three or four years,” he said in the court document.
He also said that the isolation and separation from his family while training increased his mental anguish.
Miller’s lawyer, Greg Goold, told the court that a psychiatric evaluation found he suffered from depression common in elite athletes when they can no longer compete at the highest level.
Miller won a silver medal in the 100m butterfly at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, but was crushed to come in second.
The marriage between Dawson and Miller, who as a butterfly swimmer won a silver and bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, did not last long and ended after a few years.
“His pursuit of glory for his country came at the expense of everything else in his life,” the court heard.
When Miller finished second to Russia’s Denis Pankratov in the 100m butterfly final at the 1996 Olympics, it had a serious mental effect on him.
This type of stress caused Miller to turn to drugs, resulting in several arrests and incarcerations.
Miller is currently serving a maximum prison sentence of five years and six months and has already pleaded guilty to charges associated with the supply of drugs linked to the same supply network.
The one-year non-parole period from his last sentence will expire on May 15, and due to time already served, he will be eligible for release less than a week after his last sentence.
Miller is seen being arrested by police in February 2021.
The latest sentence was over Miller supplying 504g of ice from a Haberfield property in Sydney’s inner west between April and October 2020.
Judge Andrew Scotting said he believed depression and anxiety related to his swimming career had contributed to the Olympian’s offending.
He added that he believed Miller had shown good prospects for rehabilitation having abstained from drug use and completed a degree in building and construction at Curtin University and even achieved high distinctions while behind bars.
Corrective Services told the court Miller had been a model prisoner.
“I accept that the point has been reached where no further rehabilitation will be achieved by keeping him in prison,” Judge Scotting told the court.
