PARIS: Australian hockey player Tom Craig will lose all his "Olympic privileges" after he was arrested for buying cocaine in Paris, chef de mission Anna Meares said this morning.
Craig, 28, was arrested in Paris on Wednesday morning, just days after the team's Olympic campaign came to an end.
The arrest came after some players went out following a "family and friends" gathering for the men's and women's teams.
A photo has also emerged on social media showing Craig handcuffed and seated on the pavement in a story that has soured Australia's success in Paris.
Craig made a brief statement to media after leaving the police department in Paris about 6.15pm on Wednesday (2.15am Thursday AEST).
"I made a terrible mistake and I take full responsibility for my actions," he said.
"My actions are my own and by no way reflect the values of my family, my teammates, my friends, my sport and the Australian Olympic team.
"I've embarrassed you all. I'm truly sorry."
Craig, accompanied by an AOC staff member, walked away without answering further questions and left in a vehicle.
Meares said Craig was "a good person who made a bad decision".
"I am glad that the matter has been resolved and that Tom has been released," she told media.
"But there are consequences that come with decisions like this."
While Craig would receive the Australian Olympic team's support if needed, she said he would be moving out of the athlete's village and would not attend the closing ceremony.
"In terms of our actions at this point, there is not much further that we can do as this occurred outside the team environment," she said.
She lauded the Australian team's "exemplary" achievement at this year's Olympic Games, and said Craig's arrest did not reflect its values nor diminish its performance.
Hockey Australia's high-performance director Bernard Savage said Craig had been arrested in the Ninth Arrondissement after players hit the town following a "family and friends" gathering for the Australian men's and women's hockey teams.
"After that arrest, a small group of players did follow Tom to the police station, concerned for his for his well-being," he said.
"Clearly, Hockey Australia is disappointed with Tom's actions, but our primary concern right now is his well-being."
Savage also thanked the French police for their courtesy.
"It's our understanding that they treated Tom very, very well, very respectfully and clearly understood the circumstances and the situation in which Tom found himself and how he must have been feeling as a young man in that situation in a foreign country," he said.
A spokesperson for the Paris Prosecutor's Office said Craig had been given a warning.
"At the end of his police custody, the hockey player was presented to a delegate of the prosecutor for notification of a probationary criminal warning for drug use," the spokesperson told 9news.com.au.
The prosecutor's office earlier said the Kookaburra was arrested for buying cocaine outside a building in the city's ninth arrondissement, a trendy neighbourhood known for its theatres - including the famed Palais Garnier - and shopping.
"I can confirm that police officers who witnessed a cocaine transaction at the foot of a building in the ninth arrondissement, on the night of 6 to 7 August, arrested the seller, born in December 2006, and the buyer, born in September 1995 in Australia and who is said to be a member of the Australian field hockey team," a spokesperson for the office told 9news.com.au.
"In view of the quantities of narcotics seized from the seller, the investigations were entrusted to the Narcotics Squad."
Media outlet Europe 1 first broke the report of the arrest.
"The seller, carrying 75 ecstasy pills, 3g of 2 MMC and seven vials of cocaine, was also arrested," a post by reporter Jean-Baptise Marty on X read.
Craig, from Sydney, is the partner of Hockeyroos star Alice Arnott.
He's played more than 100 matches for the Australian team and scored in the 2-3 loss to India last week.
Both the Hockeyroos and Kookaburras were eliminated from the Olympics at the quarter-final stage this week.