Olympic gold medalist Matthew Mitcham made history with his near-perfect dive, but his life was far from it. The champion athlete had a lonely childhood, battled depression from the age of 14, punished himself for having gay thoughts and escaped his feelings with drugs and alcohol. Fighting a crippling fear of failure, Matthew just wanted to be perfect. To be the best. And for a moment, he was. This is Matthew Mitcham like you’ve never heard him, “warts and all”.   Catch up on the latest from the 2024 Paris Olympics as it happens with our on the ground coverage at The Daily Telegraph. Get episodes of I Catch Killers a week early and ad-free, as well as bonus content, by subscribing to Crime X+ today. Like the show? Get more at icatchkillers.com.au Advertising enquiries: newspodcastssold@news.com.au  Questions for Gary: icatchkillers@news.com.au  Get in touch with the show by joining our Facebook group, and visiting us on Instagram or Tiktok.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.