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Australia’s Olympic great Ian Thorpe detained, taken to hospital

Thorpe, 31, failed to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and last year published an autobiography, in which he wrote in particular about his struggle with depression and alcohol abuse

SYDNEY, February 03. /ITAR-TASS/. Australia’s legendary Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe was detained by police in Sydney and taken to a hospital in the early hours of Monday, local media reported adding that no charges were pressed against the five-time Olympic winner.

The Sydney Morning Herald daily reported that police had arrived at Panania residential district in the southwest of Sydney at around 3:00 a.m. Monday local time (4:00 p.m. GMT Sunday) after a call from concerned neighbors, who reported a suspicious man near their vehicle.

Police spoke to Thorpe, who according to the daily “was dazed and disoriented, and then taken him to a hospital."

‘‘No official complaint has been made and no further police action is anticipated,’’ the daily quoted police as saying.

Nicknamed ‘The Thorpedo,’ Thorpe lived for the past 18 months in Switzerland, but arrived to his parents’ house in Sydney for Christmas holidays. According to earlier media reports, a week earlier Thorpe was discharged from a hospital, where he was allegedly in a rehab for alcohol abuse. His management denied the reports, saying that Thorpe was in hospital for a shoulder surgery.

Thorpe, 31, failed to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and last year published an autobiography, in which he wrote in particular about his struggle with depression and alcohol abuse.

"Not even my family is aware that I've spent a lot of my life battling what I can only describe as crippling depression," Thorpe, who also won a total of 11 World Championship gold, wrote in his autobiography.