It all started with a cheeky threesome to celebrate her wedding anniversary.

You’d expect that not much could compare the thrill of competing at three Olympic Games. But for one athlete, being paid for sex gave her a much bigger high.

US track and field star Suzy Favor Hamilton, 47, says within six months she went from having a risqué threesome to celebrate her 20

th

wedding anniversary to becoming “the most sought-after escort in Vegas”.

Suzy Favor Hamilton is a former Olympian and escort. Image via Facebook.

And the former escort says she still craves getting paid for sex like a drug, News Limited reports.

“I’d devoted myself to sex (and) my need to be unsurpassed in the bedroom had replaced the need to be best on the track,” she said in her soon to be released autobiography, Fast Girl – A Life Spent Running from Madness.

In an excerpt from the book, Favor Hamilton describes “the rush” she got from sex work.

But there was an unhealthy side to her “extreme” change in occupation, Favor Hamilton said.

She said she entered a downward spiral and became suicidal following her collapse before the finish line during a race at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.

Her mental illness drove her to self-medicate and seek out risky behaviour.

Back in her racing days. Image via Facebook.

The mother of one became a real estate agent and motivational speaker by day, and a high-priced escort by night – charging around AUD$800 per hour.

She said her husband agreed to her proposed fantasy life, unaware of her bipolar disorder.

“My bipolar was driven toward sex. It could have been driven towards drugs and alcohol, or gambling. I found sex was the biggest high to fuel my mania, which is common with bipolar people,” Favor Hamilton says.

Suzy Favor Hamilton. Image via Facebook.

But her secret double life, detailed in her autobiography, was ultimately exposed.

“I still crave that high,” she says.

“I can’t say I’ll never act out in that way again.”