Retired Aussie Olympian Michael Klim Shares Diagnosis with Degenerative Disease

Retta Race contributed to this report.

Retired Australian Olympic swimmer Michael Klim has been diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease rendering him unable to continue walking unassisted.

The 44-year-old Aussie, who collected six medals over the course of his Olympic career spanning 1996 to 2004, revealed he was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) back in 2020.

According to The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, CIDP is a neurological disorder characterized by progressive weakness and impaired sensory function in the legs and arms. It often presents with symptoms that include tingling or numbness (beginning in the toes and fingers), weakness of the arms and legs, loss of deep tendon reflexes (areflexia), fatigue, and abnormal sensations.

Klim told The Sunday Telegraph that he had started noticing symptoms well before his diagnosis two years ago. He talked about having to increasingly lean on his wife for daily tasks, and even collapsing in front of his children.

“In 2019 I started to get symptoms that I didn’t realize were connected to my diagnosis,” said Klim, who won two Olympic gold medals in the 4×100 freestyle relay and 4×200 free relay at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia.

“I have been dealing with chronic ankle problems and degenerative back issues for quite some time and over the past few years, I noticed severe muscle wastage in my legs, difficulty with balance, some loss of function from the knees down, numbness in my thighs and feet, to the extent I was unable to stand.”

At first, Klim was hesitant to share his condition as he struggled to come to terms with it himself. Physical challenges like this were foreign for the former 100-meter butterfly world record holder. He battled depression, sometimes turning to heavy drinking to numb the pain while he adjusted to his new reality.

“People that I’ve told, or I have spoken to about my CIDP, they’ve said, ‘Oh, you’re an Olympic athlete. You’ve got that mental strength to get you through this,'” he said. And it’s actually, hasn’t necessarily been the case. It’s not like I can do extra exercises or this or that. If anything, I’ve been more despondent about it. And it’s more depressing.

“I’ve gone through phases where I even drank too much and tried to numb the pain. I give myself about an hour a day to feel sorry and angry and frustrated and whatever else or what other emotion comes into my mind, and then move on with the rest of life.”

Klim credits his partner, Michelle Owens, along with former teammate Ian Thorpe for their support throughout the process.

“Michelle has been there with me every step of this journey,” Klim said. “I know she has sacrificed a lot. She is, as Thorpy likes to call it, my ‘human walking stick.'”

Now Klim is on a mission to spread awareness about CIDP with the hope of reaching others in similar situations and maybe fueling more research.

“Only recently I have started to share my story as it was getting harder to discuss my symptoms,” he said. “We then came to find more people suffering from this condition. It made me realize that this rare condition might not be as rare as I think, so I wanted to share my story in hope that more research can be directed towards CIDP.

“It’s hard accepting that my identity will no longer be reliant on my athletic ability. I now need to find a new mindset and mental toughness to allow me to overcome and accept this new challenge. Sharing my journey is another part of this healing process and I would hope that it brings awareness to CIDP and resonates with people who may be going through similar challenges.”