Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
A listener production.
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Hello and welcome along to episode 272 of the Howie Games Part A, featuring Olympic silver medalist Scott Miller.
He's got about two tenths of a second to take off that time and he's got a world record. He's only 21 years of age.
Chapter 2: What extraordinary events led to Scott Miller's arrest?
He's only going to get better. And Scotty Miller has turned it on here at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre.
Scott was first in the public eye due to performances like that in the pool, but after a desperate slide into drug-taking, progressed further, spiralling into drug-related crime, Scott's fame turned infamy.
To breaking news from Sydney right now, police have just arrested Olympic swimmer Scott Miller.
Former Olympian Scott Miller is used to the glare of the public spotlight, but not like this. A disgraced Olympic swimmer now accused of being a drug mastermind.
Scott's story is detailed in a phenomenal documentary currently on the ABC titled Deep End, The Scott Miller Story. The first episode has aired and you can now catch up with it on ABC iView. The second and concluding episode of Deep End, The Scott Miller Story, airs this Monday evening on the ABC, June 29.
It is a world-class documentary produced by Jam TV and we must thank sports TV whiz and general great man Luke Tunnicliffe for making this episode possible.
So you search and try to find, but you don't know where to go. So many thoughts flood through your mind. You're confused and want to know. Mystery, what is to be? So much more than meets the eye. Listen to me, time is your key. You will find out by and by.
There are obviously strong drug-related themes throughout this episode with some very direct questions posed and brutally honest answers given. So decide who in your house you want to listen, but from my point of view, that will be everyone as it is a precautionary tale.
If you listen to this and think Scott and the groups he works with could be of benefit to your community to hear from Scott, there is a link in the show notes directing you to a contact point. Here is the story of Scott Andrew Miller. Back on track.
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Chapter 3: How did Scott Miller reflect on his Olympic silver medal?
So how important, because this is a mental health, Scotty, which we'll talk about at some stage in this episode in a gentle way. It's such a much talked about topic in the modern world, which is fantastic, especially when athletes and people of profile talk about it. But I'll be fascinated from your perspective, physical activity and exercise, what does that do to your state of mind?
It's the best drug you can have. It is. Yeah. It absolutely just changes your perspective of everything. It just opens your mind, makes you just endorphin stuff. Things start happening in the morning, sort of things. So I did stop working there for a while. So a lot of your body just... becomes younger again. And yeah, it was kind of amazing, the transformation.
Yeah, but it didn't happen overnight. It was a process. My first year was I struggled to get into that routine. I was like, God, I don't want to do this. Yeah. These guys are training every day. I'm going, oh, every third day I try. This is in prison. Yeah, and it was really hard for me to get going. Like, that first year was tough, like, mentally.
But once you get through, once you get through that first year, and then you can sort of, you sort of get into your, you find your space, you find your people, and then, you know, once you start and you start seeing some results, it's just like a snowball effect, and then all the good starts happening. You start seeing yourself lose weight. You look at yourself in the mirror differently, you know.
Those pipes with the veins, mate. So, yeah. We'll get back to the start in your swimming journey, but I know after this you're going to speak to some people and have a chat to Eddie McGuire, who's obviously in charge with Cos and Tunners at Jam TV.
When you walk into that environment, and there'll be some high-powered people in that room, and in the doco when you speak to the tradies, I started getting emotional, but when you step into a room of high-powered people and are going to be in a situation where you lay your story bare, what's that like?
The first few times I did it, really hard because it was new, it was fresh and the emotions came up and I got teary and I just felt embarrassed. Right. But after I started doing a few, I started to be able to control that a bit and deliver it a bit better and I'm really working on my delivery of my story and trying to get good at it because the story itself is good but I just wanted to get
to the next level in delivering it. I don't think there's a story like that out there. I don't think, you know, I think Benny Cousins might have a pretty similar story, but I really can't think of anyone else out there that's sort of been both sides as deep as we both have been. Have you spoke to Ben about it or not? No, I would like to, yeah. I think he may have seen it.
Yeah, I heard a whisper. Yeah, I think he saw it and it had quite an impact on him. That's his story to tell. But yeah, I would like to one day have a chat with him, for sure, yeah. There's a lot of similarities between our lives. So where's life at now? As we sit here now, the middle of May 2026, how are you going? I'm going great, yeah.
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Chapter 4: What challenges did Scott face after his time in prison?
Yeah. I'm telling them all the ugly stuff too. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't hold nothing back. No. No sugar-coated stuff. It's the truth. It's the hard... It's the ugly stuff that you need to tell them. So I was casting my mind back and I thought... I knew I'd met you somewhere. You won't remember this. And I couldn't picture where it was.
And then in the docker on the ABC, so people need to watch it, catch it up on iview or the second episode's out this week, there's a shot of you at Channel 7 Sports World in there. And you're talking to Joe Griggs and Paul Salmon and Russell Mark. Yeah. I'm Scott Miller. Thanks, Jay. Thanks, guys. So there are any regrets, Scott? I mean, we saw you in the social pages a lot. I know, it happens.
We saw you out a lot. Did that take a toll as well? Absolutely. I mean, at the time, I thought it was all great. I'm up in the control room, what we call line producing that show. So talking to Grigsy and telling her what's coming up next, talking to Russell, talking to Fish, and it took me back. And I remember meeting you. It was the old Channel 7. I think it was in Wells Street.
And you came in, and I was casting my mind back. to remember, this is a long time ago, this is early 2000s, that you were a man that had charisma just oozing out your pores. That's my memory of it. And I'm, you know, we're old bastards now, Scotty. I'm mid-20s at that stage.
Okay, yeah, okay.
And it took me back by seeing you on there with Grinchy. Now, okay, geez. I know. Yeah. Fell far, didn't I? No, well, let's go back from that. So swimming.
Yep.
Tell me about your love for swimming and how you start swimming. Mum's a swimming teacher. Right. Yeah, so my mum... What's your mum's name? Jenny. Jenny. So from as young as I can remember, we had about 30 kids swimming in the neighbourhood in the back pool every afternoon after school. Right. And I'd be just waiting for them to finish so I could go have a swim. Right?
Because Mum would be in there teaching them all how to swim. And that was it. And I never remember learning how to swim. I could always swim as far as I can remember back then. And I'd always been good at it. And mum was just encouraging and I was competitive and I loved the nippers and I loved the swimming club.
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Chapter 5: How did Scott Miller's life change after the 1996 Olympics?
Yeah.
I've been lucky enough to work on the pool deck for quite a few years and learnt a bit about the sport that I knew nothing about. But there's a shot in the doco in the first part that you can see on the ABC, and it's what I would call a tracking camera following along the pool, and you're doing a dolphin kick and swimming with one arm. Oh, yeah.
I don't know what this is called, but I'm watching you thinking, if I knew nothing about swimming and I looked at that guy in the pool, I would understand that is how it's done at the top level. There's just this... innate flow to what you're doing. And other people in the doco talk about how supremely talented you were, but it was beautiful. This was just a one-arm training drill.
I'm sure you remember what I'm talking about. Yeah, it's a one-arm butterfly drill, yeah. So do you think you had that gift right from the start, that fluidity in the water where you and the water seemed to just mesh together? I always felt that, yeah. Right.
So you know what I'm talking about?
Yeah, I do, yeah, yeah. And for me, improvement every year came naturally. A lot of athletes, they're sort of stagnated and they won't improve for a few years. But going straight through to 96, I improved every year. And I don't... I don't know if that's normal or, yeah, a lot of time people might go backwards a year a little bit, but I just kept on improving every year from, you know, 10 to 21.
There was no turning back. You talked about Hell Week, which wasn't one week. It was two weeks. I wanted to explore that a little bit with you. Hell Weeks?
It was called Hell Week, but then all of a sudden it was two weeks, Scotty.
Yeah, I know. I know. That was one of the Bill Sweetenham and Bill Nelson little surprises from back in the day. It's a misnomer, isn't it? Right. We're here for Hell Week. How long are we here for? Two weeks. But on a point, in 1991, it was two weeks before Christmas. We went 100K the first week and 124K the second week.
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Chapter 6: What were the pressures of being an Olympic athlete for Scott Miller?
In Atlanta. Yeah. Tell me about the lead up and what you expected going into the Olympics. Everything went perfect.
Look at the time, 52.56. That is just outside the world record by about a quarter of a second.
Well, what an unbelievable swim. We were toting this bloke all week, and he's gone ahead and done it. The first time under 53, he's gone to 52.56, and that sets him up for Atlanta to take on Dennis Pankratoff, that's for sure. He's got about two-tenths of a second to take off that time, and he's got a world record. He's only 21 years of age.
He's only going to get better, and Scotty Miller has turned it on here at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre.
I tried to chase Pankratoff around Europe. Tell us who he was. Dennis Pankratoff, he was... He was a Russian butterfly. He was doing it underwater. At the time, it was controversial, underwater dolphin kick. So he'd dive in, and how far? He'd go about 35 down the first lap. And what was everyone else doing at that stage? Sort of up before the 15-metre mark.
Okay, so he was doing extra 20 metres underwater.
Are you frightened of anyone internationally? Oh, you know, I'm not frightened of anyone, but I know Dennis... Well, you're big enough, have a look at you.
I know Dennis Pangadol's going to be hard to beat. He does a submarine, which, you know, a few people are adopting now. I tend to come up with earlier and, you know, do Butterfly, that's supposed to be done, but... You know, he's going to be out there at the 50 and he's going to have to worry about the big fella coming home.
The big fella's going to be coming home. Hey, mate, congratulations.
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Chapter 7: How did addiction impact Scott Miller's life and career?
It was just to get a swim out of the way. I did a strong 150 and just died a bit in the last 30 meters and came fifth, but my training was for the 100. Olympic record in the heat, so I was laying four in the final. Olympic record in the heat. Olympic record in the heat. So you must be going in chock full of confidence. Yeah. I'm a 52.8 in the heat. Do you speak to Dennis at all, pre?
No, he doesn't speak English. Right. Yeah. How's your Russian? Not too good. But there was a lot of mutual respect. There was a lot of nodding and shaking of the hands and acknowledging him and me to him and him to me. The final then of the men's 100 metre butterfly. The world record 52.32. He'll be under the water a long time and that can be disconcerting. Miller in lane four, Pankratov in five.
And they've got the shock of my life when the gun went off and I'm up swimming and I'm just looking at this black blob on the bottom of the pool. Plym across in one and away. And Miller got a good start, so did Plym. Away strongly two in lane six, Pankratov. We can see him underwater. Pushing through is Ji Yang, the Chinese swimmer. I'm just watching it getting further and further in front of me.
So he's doing his 35 metre over water. And he's pulling away. And he's pulling away. And I'm going, fucking hell. But you can see him. I can see him. But he's right on the bottom like a submarine. And when he surfaced, I was at his, I can remember I was at his knees. My head was at his knees. And now Pankratov surfaces. Pankratov would be in front across in lane three.
Kin kind is prominent as well. And Scotty Miller's about half a body length off the speed at the present time as they come down to the... What's your thought there? Because I've no doubt you've got your race plans and you've trained it to an inch of your life. What happens in the first lap when you're half a body length behind? I just had to get onto the wall well.
I just had to stay calm because the second part of the race was my part. And I knew that front end bit that he did underwater, it's going to cost him at the end. So I was confident. I had what it takes to run him down. My turn was a bit long on the turn. It was a bit slow. It was ugly. Yeah. This wasn't good. Coming off the wall. He did a good turn and he just held on.
I thought I was going to get him.
You were coming.
I thought I was going to get him, but he just held on.
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Chapter 8: What does Scott Miller say about the nature of drug addiction?
Couldn't bring myself to do it. Wow. Yeah, I don't know why. When you jump out of the pool and you're an Olympic silver medalist, how's it sitting with you? How are you dealing with it? You've got to get your medal ceremony and people are wishing you well and they're celebrating you. Yeah, it's a bit surreal. I was definitely upset, but I...
And then I was glad it was over because it's like four years of this one moment. It's just now it's finished. Yeah. Yeah. So it was kind of like the end of an era nearly felt like for me. I knew I needed a big break because I was so tired. I was so exhausted from 11 years of just flogging myself for this. Back then, I didn't think you'd go to two Olympic or three Olympic Games. It wasn't done.
No, it wasn't. I wish I had a different perspective. If I had another turn in it, I'd probably do it differently. Yep. Yeah, definitely. So you come home. That was in the days where I reckon this happened in Atlanta for those street parades that were bigger than Ben Hur.
Ticket tape parades. Ticket tape parades.
Oh, massive. So you would have done that in Sydney? Yeah.
Now the pride of Australia, our Olympic athletes, are making their way along Sydney's George Street for a civic reception at the Town Hall. Midday's Brady Halls has been watching the parade. He's out on the street. Hi Brady. You're not going to believe the crowds here, Kerri-Ann. It is like 100 to 150,000 people at least lining the streets. Police have lost control down here.
They were lined back. It is about 20 deep in parts. We're up George Street.
And then we went around to, we did one here, we did one in Adelaide, I think Brisbane. I think all the medalists went around to every state for a couple of weeks. We were just, it was just a parade and a big party and a lot of Olympic medalists getting drunk. So that's a weird one, isn't it?
Yeah.
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