Golden Opportunities

From Diet And Exercise Changes, To Kicking New Goals – Gold Medallist Swimmer, Stephanie Rice, Opens Up To Paul Ewart About Life After The Olympic Games Limelight

- Paul Ewart

Confident, courageous, funny – and with a career as one of Australia’s most successful sporting stars under her belt – Stephanie Rice is perhaps the last person you’d expect to suffer from anxiety.

A three-time Olympic gold medallist and five-time swimming world-record holder, the sporting legend has been wowing fans since competing in her first Commonwealth Games at the tender age of 17. But despite the fame, accolades and adulation, when the athlete announced her retirement in 2014, aged 24, she was left unemployed, insecure, and asking herself, ‘What next?’

After winning gold

“It was my life,” the 30-year-old tells Good Health & Wellbeing. “There’s definitely an anti-climax aspect because you’ve worked so long for it. Of course, no one can take an Olympic gold medal away from you, but I know that it doesn’t fulfil you on a personal level for more than, say, a month.

“The expectation level you place on yourself is so high. Also, you’re used to receiving a lot of external gratification and stimulation – competing in front of a crowd, being recognised, being good at something… all of that makes you feel so good. And if you can’t get it from swimming any more, how else do you get it?”

It’s a question that prompted a four-and-a-half-year soul-searching quest for Stephanie

“People would ask me, ‘What are you doing now?’ and I would have no idea,” she says. “It’s very hard to admit that, and to be vulnerable, especially when the media spotlight is on you, and you feel like you should know. I ended up moving to the US for the year to get away from that pressure. It turned out to be one of the best things I ever did, to take time out just for me.”