Grant Hackett released from police custody after Gold Coast disturbance
Updated
Champion swimmer Grant Hackett has been released from police custody after a disturbance at his parents' house on Queensland's Gold Coast.
Police said they were called to a house on Surfers Avenue at Mermaid Waters about midday on Wednesday.
The 36-year-old was taken to the Southport watch house, but was released about 3:30pm.
No charges have been laid.
Older brother Craig Hackett said Grant was a troubled person who needed help.
"To see someone who was so dominant, and had the world at his feet, to now really we don't know what's going to happen, it doesn't look encouraging," he said.
"If he gets the right type of treatment — and that's what we're really counting on — maybe, just maybe, he might be able to claw himself out of it."
He said the gold medallist was not recognisable as the swimmer Australia fell in love with.
"This is not Grant Hackett — I don't know this person, my mum and dad don't know this person — he's there in body but he's not there in mind, soul or spirit," he said.
"Poor Mum and Dad have tried to look after him so much.
"If there's anyone out there that can help him, we're all for it."
In April last year, Hackett apologised for a clash with a passenger on a flight that landed at Melbourne Airport.
The victim alleged he had been groped on the chest.
In a statement at the time, Hackett said he "seriously and genuinely" regretted his "poor behaviour".
Hackett was questioned by police after the flight but was released without charge.
In 2011, police were called to Hackett and ex-wife Candice Alley's home after a heated dispute left the apartment "in disarray".
Hackett had also admitted to becoming reliant on sleeping pills.
The swimmer fell short in his bid for Olympic qualification at the Australian Swimming Championships the week before the flight incident, ending a professional swimming career that included three Olympic gold medals.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, people, swimming, sport, southport-4215, qld, australia
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