Australia's ex-swimming star, Grant Hackett 

AFP

Australia's Olympic athletes will be banned from using sleeping pills, officials said Tuesday, after ex-swimming star Grant Hackett admitted to a heavy use of the sedatives while he was still competing, reports AFP.

Australian Olympic Committee chief John Coates said prescription medications such as the powerful sleeping pill Stilnox would be banned for the first time at London after Hackett said he had developed a "heavy reliance" on the drug.

The AOC on Monday decided to amend its team medical manual "to make it absolutely unequivocal that we do not condone and indeed we prohibit the use of Stilnox by our athletes", Coates said.

In North America the drug is marketed as Ambien.

Team doctors are being advised about the changes, which will also emphasise potential problems with caffeine use, and each discipline's squad will be briefed as they enter the Olympic village, Coates added.

"We are very worried about the vicious cycle of athletes taking caffeine as a performance enhancer and then needing to take drugs such as Stilnox to get to sleep," he told reporters in Sydney.

"We've done this because our primary obligation, our overriding obligation, is to protect the health of our athletes."

Officials will also have the power to search athletes' belongings if they are suspected of using sleeping pills and disciplinary action including suspension or early return to Australia could follow.