Tracey Wickham is 'broke and about to lose her home' after fall left her barely able to walk

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Tracey Wickham was Australia's youngest swimmer at an Olympic Games
She set five world records and won four Commonwealth gold medal
But for Ms Wickham's life outside the pool has been a struggle
She tragically lost her 19 year-old daughter to cancer eight years ago
Ms Wickham has battled addiction, depression and a marriage breakdown
She said a fall has left her struggling to walk and she's almost homeless

By Naomi Tsvirko For Daily Mail Australia and Aap

Published: 22:09 EST, 13 September 2015 | Updated: 23:54 EST, 13 September 2015

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Australian swimming champion Tracey Wickham was dubbed the nation's golden girl at just 13, but the 53-year-old is now on the verge of being homeless.

The former Olympian and four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist says she's broke, struggling to walk after a fall and a month away from being kicked out of her home on the Gold Coast.

Ms Wickham said she battled an addiction to prescription drugs after losing her 19-year-old daughter Hannah to cancer eight years ago, and she is now 'hanging on by a thread'.

Former swimming world record holder Tracey Wickham pictured at home with two of her dogs Lilly and Daisy in 2008, just one year after tragically losing her daughter Hannah to cancer

Swimming legend Tracey Wickham on the podium with her medal at the Commonwealth Games held in Brisbane, Australia in 1982 (left). Ms Wickham waving to the crowd after winning the Women's 800m Freestyle event at the Commonwealth Games in 1982 (right)

Ms Wickham retired from swimming at just 19 after being the sport's darling in the late 1970s and 80s.

'At the moment, I'll either end up in my car or a caravan,' Ms Wickham told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

'I honestly don't know what I'm going to do. I can't afford anything.'

A former world record holder in the 400m and 800m freestyle, Ms Wickham, has had a troubled life outside the pool.

Tracey Wickham overcome with grief at the funeral of her daughter Hannah at the All Hallows Church in Brisbane in 2007

Tracey Wickham lost her daughter Hannah to rare cancer, Hannah was just 19 years of age when she died

Better times: Australian swimming great Tracey Wickham (centre) in 2001 with her children Daniel (right) and Hannah (left) at her Brisbane home

She has battled depression and struggled to cope with a marriage breakdown and the death of her 19-year-old daughter Hannah from cancer in 2007.

'I literally would go past a church and I would give Him the finger and I'd say "F--- you, you bastard. Why? Why Hannah?"' she told The Australian in 2010.

'It took me such a long time to realise that she was one of His angels and He needed her. He needed her.'

Tracey Wickham recieves her gold medal from Queen Elizabeth during the 1982 Commonwealth Games held in Brisbane, Australia

Tracey Wickham celebrates winning a Gold medal at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane

Ms Wickham also revealed that she became addicted to prescription drugs in 2003.

After receiving a prescription for painkillers from her doctor, Ms Wickham said she became reliant on the drug.

She has linked her struggle with addiction to coping with her daughter's synovial sarcoma cancer diagnosis in 2004 and a custody battle over both her daughter Hannah and son Daniel.

'I kept taking them for a few months and after three or four months I realised my body was screaming out for more. . . there'd be like withdrawal symptoms but I didn't know that at the time,' she said.

Ms Wickham said she had been in and out of rehab trying to kick the addiction since her daughter's death in 2007. The last time she spoke publicly of her addiction was in 2010, when she told the Australian she had been in hospital to 'get off them for good'.

Ms Wickham is now struggling to walk after allegedly falling on tiles at the Regatta Hotel in Brisbane in June 2010, where she claims she sustained a back injury.

'I'm hanging on by a thread, it's not even dental floss thread, it's thinner,' she said.