A former Olympic medallist has been jailed for having a “central role” in supplying commercial quantities of ice and heroin in NSW after a “public comedown” from his elite swimming career.
The 47-year-old was beamed into Sydney Downing Centre District Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to two counts of supplying a prohibited drug, dealing with property proceeds of crime and participating in a criminal group contributing to criminal activity.
The former swimming star was sentenced for supplying large quantities of ice and heroin after he was busted driving a shipment of drugs from Sydney to the NSW town of Yass in early 2021.
Court documents state Miller made the 280km journey with the $2.2m haul of meth and was met by another man when he arrived.
The former Olympian had hidden a bag in a secret compartment in the Camry that had eight candles containing nearly 4kg of ice.
Miller was arrested at his home in Rozelle in Sydney’s inner west in February last year while clad only in his blue jeans in a bare living room. During a subsequent search of his home, the court was told police seized nearly 800g of heroin and more than $72,000 in cash.
Miller pleaded guilty to supplying both drugs and dealing with the cash that was proceeds of a crime. He also admitted to participating in a criminal group by dealing ice, the court was told.
The Rozelle resident has suffered a spectacular fall from grace since he swam for Australia at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and won silver and bronze medals.
He also won two gold medals for his butterfly performances at the 1994 Commonwealth Games.
His lawyer Arjun Chhabra previously told the court that Miller had suffered a “public comedown” after his youth as an elite sportsman left him “ill-equipped to move into a life beyond his sporting career”.
Magistrate Penny Hock told the court that Miller lived fulltime at the Institute of Sport in Canberra after he was discovered at a young age.
“That is when his mental health issues commenced,” she said.
She noted that people who knew him while he was an elite athlete testified that he felt the pressure to perform keenly and was unsatisfied with second place at the Olympics.
“He was devastated he didn’t win gold,” the magistrate read from a character reference tendered to the court.
“This was the level of expectation he placed on himself.”
The court was told Miller used cocaine and ecstasy on an “intermittent” basis at the beginning, but his drug use increased after he retired from swimming in 2004.
The pressures of fame meant his struggles with mental health and drug use were well publicised and exacerbated the issues, Ms Hock said.
“The suicide of his ex-wife in 2014 placed an extra strain on him,” she said.
The court was previously told Miller blamed himself for the death of his ex-wife Charlotte Dawson, who was a popular television personality and model.
Ms Hock found there were special circumstances and sentenced the swimming star to five years and six months imprisonment. She noted Miller had been in custody since his arrest on February 16 last year and backdated the sentence to that date.
He will be eligible for parole in February 2024.
More to come
