Disgraced swimming star Scott Miller has revealed the shock of re-entering society after his jail term for meth trafficking was so severe he wished he could go back behind bars.
The 51-year-old has put his life back together after being imprisoned for more than three years for large-scale commercial drug supply in late 2022.
Miller admitted to hauling $2.2million of meth with a co-accused 280km from Sydney to the regional NSW town of Yass in 2021.
He had pleaded guilty to supplying a large commercial quantity of methamphetamine, supplying a commercial quantity of heroin, participating in a criminal group and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
The immense fall from grace came after the Olympic silver medallist almost died of a drug overdose in 2006, when he ended up on life support in Manly Hospital.
Now he has spoken out about the turnaround that has seen him get back in the pool and win a silver medal at the Masters Championships just a few days ago.
Scott Miller (pictured right being arrested at his Sydney home in 2021) has transformed himself since serving more than three years in jail for drug dealing
The Olympic silver medallist is pictured in amazing shape after setting a national record at the recent Masters Swimming Australia National Championships
Miller (pictured outside court in 2013) dropped a staggering 26kg while he was in jail
‘You’re just really paralysed with fear when you get out [of jail],’ Miller told the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘It was harder getting adjusted back into the community after prison than it was going in.
‘It’s a really weird feeling … I remember being out for three months wishing I was back in there [jail].
‘I can’t tell you how hard life is when you get out.’
Miller – who also owned an escort agency before being imprisoned – began his fall from grace after narrowly missing out on 100m butterfly gold in controversial circumstances at the 1996 Olympics, then being forced to sit out the 2000 Games when he missed selection through injury.
Last October he once again turned to swimming to help him transform his life, returning to the pool for the first time in more than 20 years at the Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton Aquatic Centre in Manly.
‘I wanted to feel what it was like to be alive again and back in the pool,’ Miller said.
‘Once I dived in and swam for the first time, it was therapeutic and I enjoyed it.
The 51-year-old struggled badly after narrowly missing out on gold at the 1996 Olympics (pictured) in controversial circumstances
Miller almost died of a drug overdose in 2006 and was shattered by the breakdown of his marriage to TV star Charlotte Dawson (pictured together) who took her own life in 2014
‘I had so much time to think while I was in there [jail].
‘I was hoping to be out at age 50, and I got out at 49. You want to reset and start again … like turning back time.’
Prior to that, Miller had found the idea of returning to the water ‘painful’ as he was still haunted by finishing second in the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
He pressed on with regular training sessions to ‘ease the pain’ of being in the pool and ended up joining the Warringah Masters Swimming Club on Sydney’s northern beaches, where he trains three times a week, continuing the physical transformation he began while locked up.
Miller’s dedication paid off at the Masters Swimming Australia National Championships in Brisbane just a few days ago, where he set a national record for the 50m butterfly in the men’s 50-54 age category.
He made the most of his time on the inside, finishing a degree in building construction management and losing 26kg by training hard.
The fallen star compared life on the inside to being at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), which he was expelled from after starting his training there aged 15.
‘People ask me what prison was like. Think of the Australian Institute of Sport but with no women or pools,’ he said.
‘I fit in pretty well with an institutionalised environment.
‘I became a gym sweeper in my last few years, so I was in the gym a lot in prison. I got to train all day.
Pictured: Some of the evidence that helped send Miller to jail after police found $2million worth of methamphetamine
Miller is pictured after his arrest. He said he found returning to society so difficult that he wanted to go back to being behind bars at first
‘I got to train all day … I was doing weights, rowing and on the assault bike.
‘I went in at 125kg and came out at 99kg.’
Miller – who is now his mother’s carer – now works as a speaker for Alcohol and Drug Awareness Australia and describes his shift out of the highest levels of sport as ‘the hardest thing I’ve done in my life’.
When the swimmer was sentenced in November 2022, the court heard that his time at the AIS was the start of his downfall.
‘Miller’s recurrent problems with depression and substance use date back to the sacrifices and pressures of his swimming career and the disappointment of not winning a gold medal when his purpose hinged on that one event,’ one of his references said.
During the case, his lawyers also pointed to the breakdown of his marriage to TV star Charlotte Dawson, who took her own life in 2014.
Her body was found the morning after Miller’s 39th birthday.
‘Being a media personality he took blame for that and that was again brought into public limelight,’ Miller’s lawyer Arjun Chabra told the court.
‘That public shaming and embarrassment has exacerbated his life today.’
Miller was arrested on February 16, 2021 after an extensive police investigation pinned him at the centre of a criminal group.
Police tracked his movements over several days, monitoring him with tracking devices in his car.
In January 2021, he met up with an unidentified individual who placed a bag of candles containing $2million worth of methamphetamine in his car before being busted by police.
