Olympic legend Stephanie Rice eager to raise standards in UAE swimming

Australia's triple gold medallist now living in Dubai and working with Hamilton Aquatics

Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice, who won three gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, is now based in Dubai. Reuters

While you might struggle to beat the feeling of winning three gold medals at the same Olympics, retired Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice recalls many special memories she experienced at the Games away from the pool.

A champion in the 200m medley, 400m medley, and 4x200m freestyle relay at the Beijing Olympics, Rice remembers meeting the likes of Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer, describing those encounters as a “dream come true”.

She also struck up a friendship with the late Kobe Bryant, who mentored many athletes during his lifetime, and played a similar role for Rice.

“Those kinds of experiences, where you get to meet other top athletes and see their sport played out at the top level, is what the Olympics is all about. And so I’ve been very, very fortunate,” Rice told The National at Etihad Arena, where she was a guest of DCT Abu Dhabi at the USA-Australia basketball exhibition game last week.

“Kobe was a very generous man and he really wanted to share that high-level work ethic that he had, and dedication. It was something I felt very inspired by but also being at the top level myself, I really valued the way he structured his life and his business and his family.

“I felt I learnt a lot from him, with just life in general and how he managed that really well.”

Rice, whose last competitive race was at the London 2012 Olympics, officially retired from professional swimming in 2014.

The 36-year-old Hall-of-Famer relocated to Dubai seven months ago and is keen to share her own experiences to help develop the swimming scene in the UAE.

“I’m doing a little bit of work with Hamilton Aquatics, which are one of the biggest players here in the UAE for swimming. And I’m really looking forward to seeing the growth of UAE swimming,” said Rice.

“I think one of the hardest parts is that everyone kind of trains here and then has to go back and compete for their own countries. So I’d love to see the UAE national team really lift and that’s a big part of what I would love to be able to do here.”

The UAE is sending two swimmers – Yousuf Almatroushi (100m freestyle) and Maha Alshehhi (200m freestyle) – to the Paris Olympics, both via universality invitations.

Only two Arab swimmers, Egypt’s Marwan Elkamash and Tunisia’s Ahmed Jaouadi, will be competing at these Games by virtue of clocking A-standard qualifying times, and the absence of Tunisian world and Olympic champion Ahmed Hafnaoui and Egyptian World Championship bronze medallist Farida Osman has cast a bit of a shadow on the Arab world’s participation in the pool in Paris.

Asked how the region can better capitalise on breakout performances like Hafnaoui’s shock gold medal in the 400m freestyle in Tokyo 2020, Rice said: “I think it’s a really great balance of having other superstars come back and inspire the younger generation. But I do think when it comes to anything high performance, there is always going to be some superstars that fade out and there’s a gap between the new ones rising up.

“So I think that as time goes on, as we move towards the L.A. Olympics and the Brisbane Olympics, it’s going to lift.

“But I think part of my goal would be to be able to share some of that lived experience, to inspire the younger generation and also just share some of those expert tips that come from the top level, and hopefully start seeing it grow.”

Rice will be following the Olympics closely as part of a star-studded lineup of experts providing commentary and coverage for an Australian broadcast network during the Games and she is excited to see how her compatriots perform in the medley events against the Canadians and Americans.

The 200m individual medley will feature a tense battle between swimmers like Canadian Summer McIntosh, Americans Kate Douglass and Alexandra Walsh, and Australian Kaylee McKeown.

Rice will also have her eye on the 200m freestyle.

“It's going to be incredibly tight,” said Rice.

“So Ariarne Titmus up against Mollie O’Callaghan, against the US girls and Katie Ledecky. It’s a superstar field of really high-profile athletes. There’s a lot of head-to-heads but I think the women’s 200 free is going to be a great battle.”

O’Callaghan broke Federica Pellegrini’s world record in the 200 free at the 2023 World Championships after the Italian had owned it for nearly 15 years.

Titmus, the reigning Olympic champion in the event, broke the world record during Australia’s Olympic trials, pipping O’Callaghan who swam the second-fastest time in history right next to her countrywoman in the same race.

“I definitely think for us, watching the Australian Olympic trials, you see the head-to-head battle between Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus,” said Rice.

“So I’m really looking forward to watching that play out on the global stage with everybody else. I think these Olympics, especially after coming from the Tokyo Olympics with the Covid situation, this one I think is going to be really special.”