"He is in rehab for depression," Thorpe's manager James Erskine told the Australian Associated Press. "The owner of the car basically called the police and the police came.
"They realised it was Ian Thorpe. They realised he was disoriented."
The five-times Olympic champion, who made his Games debut as a teenager in Sydney in 2000, retired in 2006 citing waning motivation and made a comeback early in 2011 but failed to make the Australian team for London.
Erskine said Thorpe was taking anti-depressants and medication for a shoulder injury but was not under the influence of alcohol.
"He hadn't had a drink," Erskine added. "He had zero alcohol in him."
(Writing by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by John O'Brien)
