Stephanie Rice: Why Aussie Swimmer Will Steal the Spotlight in London

While the United States is eagerly anticipating the performance of 17-year-old Missy Franklin, the real story of women’s swimming may reside in Australia.

Stephanie Rice is a 24-year-old who won three gold medals in the ’08 Olympics at Beijing and currently holds the world record in the 400-meter individual medley. She was given the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2009, which is quite the honor in her home country.   

She will be defending her individual 200-meter and 400-meter IM wins in London, and will certainly have some tough competition against the likes of Americans Ariana Kukors, Elizabeth Beisel and Caitlin Leverenz.

But with her experience in Olympic competition and incredible work ethic, there is no question Rice is heading to London with visions of gold medals dancing around in her head.

Rice sticks to an extremely strict training regiment and possesses a body that has to be seen to believe according to the Sydney Morning Herald:

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This is how you look when you are 24 and treat your body like a Rolls-Royce, tuned and buffed to perfection, trained to cut through the water like a jet ski - the sort of body that when offered fast food, reacts with revulsion ("I never crave it"). Rice can say, "My favourite meal is a big salad and some steamed fish," and mean it.

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Rice has used her body in a way that has created some serious controversy since the ’08 Olympics, and when the world gets a chance to see her outside of the pool I have a feeling her popularity will further skyrocket.

She is already a sensation in her own country, and a strong performance in the next two weeks would elevate her to a level of global popularity few athletes have been able to obtain.

One of the issues that could easily derail all of the excitement is her shoulder injury. The Herald Sun reports that the injury flared up in a London workout, and Rice will be forced to deal with the pain throughout the games. She had surgery on it back in 2010. 

But if she can fight through it and claim multiple gold medals once again, Rice will be the face of women’s swimming and will get the sponsorships and notoriety that comes along with it, not just in Australia, but around the globe.  

Remember the name of Stephanie Rice; you will be hearing it quite often in the next two weeks and beyond. 

Follow Eric Ball on Twitter.