Swimming: Thorpe released from hospital after battling infection

Australia's Ian Thorpe gestures while speaking to the media after the men's 200m freestyle semi-finals at the 2012 Australian Swimming Championships to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics, in Adelaide on March 16, 2012. -- FILE PHOTO: REUTERS
Australia's Ian Thorpe gestures while speaking to the media after the men's 200m freestyle semi-finals at the 2012 Australian Swimming Championships to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics, in Adelaide on March 16, 2012. -- FILE PHOTO: REUTERS

SYDNEY (REUTERS) - Five-time Olympic champion swimmer Ian Thorpe has been released from a Sydney hospital after successfully battling a serious infection, his manager said on Wednesday.

Australia's most decorated swimmer, Thorpe retired after the 2004 Athens Olympics before making an unsuccessful comeback bid for London in 2012.

He contracted the infection after undergoing shoulder surgery earlier this year and initial reports had him in intensive care battling to save the use of his left arm.

His manager James Erskine poured cold water on those reports and on Wednesday said the 31-year-old had been released.

"It looks as though the infections have cleared up. It can always re-infect as it's done twice before but we are hopeful," he told Australian Associated Press (AAP).

Thorpe was also admitted to hospital earlier this year to treat depression after he was found disoriented in Sydney.

Police were called when a resident saw him behaving oddly near a vehicle and Erskine later said he had been taking a mixture of anti-depressants and medication for his shoulder.

Erskine said on Wednesday that Thorpe was unlikely to return to a rehab clinic after his release from hospital.

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