Jailed Olympian Scott Miller reveals his drug depths that almost killed him

Jailed Olympian Scott Miller has revealed the depths of his drug abuse and how he spiralled after several failed Olympic comebacks and business ventures.

Swimmer Scott Miller of Australia shows his disappointment after finishing second in men's final of 100 butterfly event at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Picture: AP

Scott Miller had dark thoughts in his head when he exited the training pool for the last time, shutting the door on his Olympic comeback and swimming career.

It was February 11, 2004, and the then 29 year-old, who won a silver medal for Australia at the 1996 Games, had just given up on a final comeback attempt to make that year’s Olympic squad.

An ongoing shoulder injury, made infinitely worse by a jet ski accident three years earlier where pins and wires were inserted to hold it together, made the pain of competing unbearable.

Miller was done and he knew it.

“Within hours of walking out of the Sydney Uni pool I was looking for something to numb the physical, emotional and spiritual pain …,” Miller said in an affidavit tendered to the Sydney District Court. The “something” was drugs.

Elite swimmer Scott Miller in 1996. Picture: Getty Images

According to Miller’s affidavit, he had been drug free since about 1999. That was about to change.

Flash forward to 2006 and Miller wrote that his drug spiral over the period almost killed him.

“My drug use hit a high point where it was nearly all the time,” he wrote. “My depression was at an all time high. I can remember having a drug overdose and ending up at Manly Hospital on life support in 2006.”

Two years later, Miller began his transformation from troubled athlete and former media darling to his current status of a serious criminal when he was arrested over an ecstasy supply ring, for which he was later sentenced to commit community service.

Since then, the 49-year-old has been sentenced to four more sets of criminal offences, all related to drug supply.

The most recent of which came last week when Miller was sentenced to serve no more time in jail over an ice supply ring where the drug was sealed inside instant noodle containers inside an inner west Sydney property before being on-sold.

Scott Miller outside Sydney’s Downing Centre Court during one of his drug cases.

Miller’s result was partially explained by the fact that his offending in the Haberfield operation was related to his attempts to smuggle ice in candles in 2020 and 2021, for which he had already been sentenced to five years in jail.

The other contributing factor came from the swimmer’s lawyer Greg Goold who spelled out to Judge Andrew Scotting the series of calamities that Miller experienced before, during and after his swimming career.

“Every time he had an opportunity to move forward, something was there to drag him down,” Mr Goold told the court.

Miller’s setbacks have been perpetual. There were the injuries that prevented four attempted comebacks post the Atlanta Olympics.

His recreational drug use spiralled into full blown addiction and an ill-advised career choice.

Then there were his business failures: The escort agency, the pink batts scheme that almost saw Miller’s father – who did not engage in any wrongdoing – lose his home, followed by the trucking business.

The court was told the common theme is that when times got tough, Miller turned to drugs, either to make money or for escapism. Miller is also aware of his track record.

Scott Miller being arrested in 2021. Picture: NSW Police

“I am fully aware that my transition from the closeted life of an elite swimmer to a normal life has been an abject failure in many respects,” Miller wrote in his affidavit.

The court also heard from psychologist Dr John Machlin, whose report said Miller had followed the path of many elite athletes who have an “elevated propensity” to mental health problems because of the sacrifices and pressure they experience while pursuing their sporting career.

Dr Machlin’s report also said that people in Miller’s position feel a complete loss of purpose when their career ends, leading to an empty feeling.

Miller wrote in his affidavit that he struggled with these pressures since he moved to Canberra as a 15-year-old after receiving a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport.

“I found the separation from my parents, friends and swimming companions to be difficult,” Miller wrote. “My recollections are that it was all about achieving a result for the country at the expense of everything else in my life,” he wrote.

Miller wrote that he is still scarred by the moment that should have been his greatest triumph. A gold medal chance in the 100m butterfly, Miller came second to Russian Denis Pankratov who controversially swam most of the first lap underwater.

Miller with his medals that he won during the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

“I am still haunted by the manner in which I was defeated,” Miller wrote.

Miller was still celebrated on his return to Sydney. He won the 1999 Cleo Bachelor of the Year contest and married one of the judges, media identity Charlotte Dawson.

Their courtship and wedding was well documented and made them media darlings. Miller wrote that his relationship with Dawson resulted in him being introduced to drug use.

“Charlotte was engaged in the fashion and media industry and it was in the context of my exposure to the lifestyle that my wife’s social and employment connections afforded that I was first introduced to personal drug use,” he wrote.

“Whilst it was not significant, I realise in retrospect that it was (the) start on my long and disastrous involvement with drug abuse.”

Miller still had aspirations to win Olympic gold. But his new late night lifestyle clashed with career in the pool.

Miller and Charlotte Dawson on their wedding day.

“Try(ing) to mix training and a social life proved impossible in 1998 and my results at the … Commonwealth Games trials were terrible,” he wrote.

“Recreational drug use and social events were common and my personal relationship with Charlotte Dawson became more serious.”

The pair split in early 2000. Dawson took her own life one day after Miller’s birthday in 2014.

Prior to the split in 1999, Miller was angling for a spot on the 2000 Sydney Olympics team.

“My times in the pool were like nothing I had ever done before, and I was right on track for Olympic gold until eight weeks before the Olympic trials I tripped over two steps on my way to training and broke my foot,” Miller wrote. “My Olympic dream was shattered.”

His comeback was delayed in 2001 when a jetski accident resulted in an injury that required pins and wires to be inserted in his right shoulder.

In 2002, he was training with Grant Hackett but snapped his Achilles two months out from the 2003 World Championship trials.

His last try flamed out in the Sydney University pool in 2004.

He tried his hand in the business world with disastrous results.

In 2008, Miller borrowed $1m and mortgaged his parents’ home to sink the money into the government’s pink batts insulation scheme.

When the government pulled the pin on the scheme, Miller was left with worthless batts and a legal battle with the bank over the future of his parents’ home.

“It was at this time I started a private escort management service,” Miller wrote. “I saw a gap in the market to write ads and manage the phone calls for the working girls.

He wrote that he paid about “$250,000” made from the escort service towards the legal battle with the bank that was eventually settled.

The hours for the escort service saw him turn to smoking ice leading to his next set of charges.

In June 2013, he was pulled over in Mascot with three bags of ice, $16,000 cash. The escort business failed and after a stint in rehab, Miller worked for waste disposal company, URM.

From 2018, he invested in his own trucking company, only to see it swallowed by Covid restrictions in 2020. He turned back to drugs.

In 2022, Miller was jailed for a maximum five years and six months over an ice smuggling operation where the drug was hidden in candles.

Around the same time, he was involved in moving ice in the noodle packets with a number of other people.

In jail, Miller has completed a degree in building construction management, gotten in shape and abstained from drugs.

“I have spent the last three years occupied with work or study and thinking about the mistakes I have made in my life,” Miller wrote in the affidavit.

“I am further confident I can apply the skills I used to achieve in my sporting career and the drive I know I possess to continue to rehabilitate myself and contribute positively to society as I did before drugs came into my life,” he wrote.

The question is whether a multiple time loser in Miller’s situation can stick to it when the times get tough.
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Originally published as Jailed Olympian Scott Miller reveals his drug depths that almost killed him