Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham celebrates seven years sober

Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham celebrated seven years sober on Monday.

The 34-year-old announced the milestone achievement to his Instagram page and said he is ‘the happiest and healthiest he’s ever been’.

‘Today I am SEVEN YEARS clean and sober,’ Matthew wrote.

‘It has been seven years since I put anything stronger than a Panadol in my body, and I am without a shred of doubt the happiest and healthiest I have ever been.’

He continued: ‘Not everyone needs sobriety, but I did because I was dependent on external things to solve internal issues. And though I still have internal issues, I now have internal solutions.’

‘I hope everyone has had (or is still having) a fun-filled festive season, and if one day you wake up and think ‘enough’s enough’ like I did seven years ago, just know that there is lots of help available if you ask for it.’

The 34-year-old announced the milestone achievement to his Instagram page, writing: ‘Today I am SEVEN YEARS clean and sober’

Matthew has previously spoken about his battle with alcohol and crystal meth as he struggled to cope with a ‘post-Games comedown’ following the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

In his final routine, Mitcham set an Olympic record score for a single dive – 112 – to stun the home crowd.

In doing so, Queensland born Mitcham created history by becoming the first openly gay male Olympic champion.

After his triumph in Beijing, Mitcham developed a dependency for the drug ice when he discovered he was not world number one in the global rankings, despite his Olympic success.

‘It has been seven years since I put anything stronger than a Panadol in my body, and I am without a shred of doubt the happiest and healthiest 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 would be drug-tested at every competition I would detox (from drugs) for the weeks before competing and I’d go through these horrible withdrawals,’ he told the BBC.

‘They were so bad that I’d promise myself with every cell in my body that I was not going to use again, but I couldn’t ever keep the promise.

‘It got dark. My self-esteem was shattered, at times killing myself seemed like the easiest way to deal with this, but I finally took myself to rehab.’

Matthew has previously spoken about his battle with alcohol and crystal meth as he struggled to cope with a ‘post-Games comedown’ following the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Pictured Matthew and his husband Luke Mitcham

Source: | Dailymail.co.uk