Former Olympian Huegill Pleads Guilty To Cocaine Possession

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[May 14, 2014]  SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian former Olympic swimmer Geoff Huegill and his wife Sara Hills pled guilty to cocaine possession in a Sydney court on Wednesday.

The pair, who were charged after being arrested with a small quantity of the drug at a horse racing meeting last month, were given six-month good behavior bonds but did not have a conviction entered.

"Both Sara and I take full responsibility for the consequences that we are both in, here today," Huegill told reporters after the hearing. "We recognize with our actions there will be consequences and we will have to deal with those.

"The last couple of weeks of our lives have been some of the most stressful.

"Stressful for our families, stressful for our friends and stressful for our business associates.

"We have let down a lot of people, those who supported us and trusted us.

"That's the part that hurts us the most."

Huegill, who won a medley relay silver and a 100 meters butterfly bronze for Australia at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, retired from the pool after the 2004 Athens Games.

He battled depression, weight and alcohol problems before making a highly publicized comeback in 2008.

A former 50m butterfly world record holder, he won golds at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and took a world championship bronze in Shanghai the following year before quitting the pool again after failing to qualify for the 2012 London Games.

(Reporting by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

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