Stephanie Rice

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Stephanie Rice
Facial close-up of Stephanie Rice, brunette woman in her mid-20s.
Personal information
Full name Stephanie Louise Rice
Nickname(s) "Ricey",[1] "Steph"
National team  Australia
Born (1988-06-17) 17 June 1988 (age 36)
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 67 kg (148 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Medley, freestyle, butterfly
Club St Peters Western
Coach Michael Bohl

Stephanie Louise Rice, OAM (born 17 June 1988) is an Australian competitive swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on 26 January 2009.[2][3]

On 9 April 2014, she confirmed her retirement.[4]

Career

Rice was the gold medallist in the 200-metre individual medley at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, where she defeated Olympians Brooke Hanson and Lara Carroll to claim the gold medal in the event in a time of 2:12.90, a personal best by 1.19 seconds. She also won the 400-metre individual medley.

At the 2007 Melbourne World Championships she won a bronze medal in the 200-metre individual medley in a time of 2 minutes 11.42 seconds, breaking the previous Australian record by a second. American Katie Hoff won the gold in 2:10.13, with Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe in second place. Rice once again placed third, earning her second bronze medal in the 400-metre individual medley final. In a new personal best time Rice finished in 4:41.19, taking 0.54 of a second off her previous best.

Rice continued her strong performance, setting a new personal best time in the 400m individual medley at an Italian meet in June 2007. Rice went a 4:40.79, edging closer to the elusive 4:40 barrier in the event. At the 2007 Japanese Open Championships, Rice smashed her personal best time in the 400m individual medley and finally cracked the 4:40 barrier. In placing second to Zimbabwean champion Kirsty Coventry, Rice set a new Australian and Commonwealth record of 4:37.18, a personal best by 3.61 sec.

At the 2008 Australian Olympic trials, Rice broke the world record in the 400-metre individual medley. Rice stopped the clock at 4 minutes 31.46 seconds, 1.43 seconds under American Katie Hoff's mark of 4:32.89. On 29 June 2008, at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Hoff regained the world record from Rice with a time of 4:31.12. Rice claimed her second world record of the meet, when she broke the 200-metre individual medley world record, clocking 2 minutes 8.92 seconds to slash almost a full second off the previous record held by China's Wu Yanyan.

At the Beijing Olympic Games, Rice received her first-ever Olympic medal, Australia's first gold medal of the games and its 400th summer Olympic medal, winning the 400-metre individual medley in a time of 4 minutes 29.45 seconds. In the process she reclaimed the world record from Hoff bettering the mark by 1.67 seconds, thus becoming the first woman to break the 4:30 in the event, (Kirsty Coventry also went under 4:30 in taking the silver).

2007 World Championships

Rice won bronze in the 200- and 400-metre individual medleys. In the 200-metre final, she recorded a time of 2:11.42, a second below the previous Australian record, behind American Katie Hoff in 2:10.13, and Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, who claimed second place. In the 400-metre final, Rice recorded a new personal best time of 4:41.19, shaving 0.54 of a second off her previous best.

2007 World Championships Events
Final medal count: 2 (0 gold, 0 silver, 2 bronze)
Event Time Place
200 m IM 2:11.42 Bronze AR
400 m IM 4:41.19 Bronze
4×200 m Freestyle Relay 7:56.42 4th

2007 Other events

Rice set a new personal best time of 4:40.79 in the 400-metre individual medley at an Italian meet in June 2007,[citation needed] edging closer to the 4:40 barrier in the event.

At the 2007 Japanese Open Championships, Rice won silver behind Zimbabwean champion Kirsty Coventry in the 400-metre individual medley. In doing so, she smashed her personal best time by 3.61 seconds, cracking the 4:40 barrier and setting a new Australian and Commonwealth record of 4:37.18.[citation needed]

2008 Australian Olympic Trials

At the 2008 Australian Olympic trials, Rice broke the world record in both the 400- and 200-metre individual medleys. In the 400-metre individual medley, she clocked 4:31.46, 1.43 seconds below American Katie Hoff's mark of 4:32.89.[5] (Hoff retook the world record at the U.S. Olympic Trials on 29 June 2008, with a time of 4:31.12). In the 200-metre, she clocked 2:08.92 seconds, taking almost a second off the previous record held by China's Wu Yanyan.[6]

2008 Summer Olympics

In Beijing, Rice won three gold medals (each in world record time) in the 200- and 400-metre individual medley events and in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay. In winning the 400-metre individual medley, Rice won her first Olympic medal, Australia's first gold medal of the games and their 400th Summer Olympic medal.[7] Recording a time of 4:29.45, she reclaimed the world record from Hoff, bettering the mark by 1.67 seconds, and became the first woman to break the 4:30 mark in the event. (Kirsty Coventry also went under 4:30 in taking the silver.)

Her second gold medal of 2008 Games came on 13 August in the 200-metre individual medley with a new world record time of 2:08.45. Rice prevailed after being neck and neck with Coventry throughout the last 50 metres, who once again followed Rice to beat the old world record.[8] On 14 August she won her third gold medal as part of the 4×200-metre freestyle relay team. She led off the team and Australia was in second place at the end of her leg.

2008 Summer Olympics Events
Final medal count: 3 (3 gold, 0 silver, 0 bronze)
Event Time Place
200 m IM 2:08.45 Gold WR
400 m IM 4:29.45 Gold WR
4×200 m Freestyle Relay 7:44.31 Gold WR

2009 World Championships

File:Stephanie Rice at the Wagga Wagga Marketplace.jpg
Rice interviewed by local media in Wagga Wagga in January 2010.

Rice began the meet with a solid performance in the 200-metre individual medley. Despite losing her world record, she sliced 1.42 seconds off her personal best time while capturing a silver medal. Experimenting with the 200-metre freestyle did not end well as she failed to make the final. With the absence of Linda Mackenzie, Kylie Palmer and Meagan Nay, the team was never in medal contention, finishing 5th. Rice retained her 400-metre individual medley record however finished with a bronze in the final. She was awarded a silver medal for her contributions in the medley relay heats.

2009 World Championships Events
Final medal count: 3 (0 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)
Event Time Place
200 m IM 2:07.03 Silver AR
400 m IM 4:32.29 Bronze
200 m freestyle 1:58.33 16th
4×200 m freestyle relay 7:46.85 5th
4×100 m medley relay (heats) 3:58.36 Silver

Awards

Personal life

Rice attended Clayfield College in her high school years in Brisbane, Queensland.[9][10]

In September 2010, Rice came under fire when she made a homophobic comment on Twitter,[11][12][13][14] relating to a Rugby Union match in which the Australian Wallabies defeated the South African Springboks. Rice's Twitter message said "Suck on that faggots!".[15] Rice later removed the remark and apologised for it.[16]

In 2013, Rice won season 3 of The Celebrity Apprentice Australia.[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Stephanie Rice confirms retirement from swimming
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons

Records
Preceded by Women's 200-metre individual medley
world record-holder (long course)
25 March 2008 – 26 July 2009		 Succeeded by
Ariana Kukors
Preceded by Women's 400-metre individual medley
world record-holder (long course)
22 March 2008 – 29 June 2008		 Succeeded by
Katie Hoff
Preceded by Women's 400-metre individual medley
world record-holder (long course)
10 August 2008 – 28 July 2012		 Succeeded by
Ye Shiwen
Awards
Preceded by World Swimmer of the Year
2008		 Succeeded by
Federica Pellegrini
Preceded by Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year
2008		 Succeeded by
Jessicah Schipper
Preceded by Australian Swimmer of the Year
2008		 Succeeded by
Jessicah Schipper

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