Stephanie Rice: Australian Swimmer Will Leave London Without Gold Medal

Coming off of her dominant performance in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Stephanie Rice is easily one of the most recognizable swimmers to compete in this year's Olympic Games. 

The 24-year-old Australian won three gold medals in 2008, all in world-record setting times in the 400-meter individual medley, 200-meter individual medley, and the 4x200-meter freestyle relay. On top of her accomplishments at the Games, Rice won the 2008 Female World Swimmer of the Year award.

Since her success in 2008, Rice has managed to remain the news, but not always due to her swimming.

Many may remember the controversy surrounding her homophobic tweet that she made in 2010 regarding a rugby match.  

Rice was also criticized by some this year for posting a picture of herself on twitter wearing a revealing bikini.

However, despite her out of the pool controversies, Rice has remained in the mix as one of the best swimmers in the world over the last four years. 

Many expected Rice to repeat her performance from Beijing in 2012, however, it has been a disappointing Olympics thus far for the former gold medalist.

Rice finished sixth in the 400-meter individual medley with a time of 4 minutes, 35.49 seconds, well off of her world-record time in '08 of 4:29.45 seconds. 

Winning the event was Chinese teenage sensation Ye Shiwen, who at just 16 smashed Rice's world record by over a second with a time of 4:28:43.

According to the BBC, United States swim coach John Leonard even referred to Shiwen's performance as "disturbing," which is leading to inevitable questions surrounding the legitimacy of her accomplishments, although it is important to note there is no evidence that Shiwen used any illegal substances at this time. 

For Rice, the disappointment of not only failing to defend her gold medal, but not even medaling in the event, is an unfortunate foreshadowing of what she is in store for in the rest of these Olympic Games.

Although she is only 24 years old, Rice has been surpassed by Shiwen and other up-and-coming swimmers like her fellow Australian Alicia Coutts. 

Rice will have another chance to show she still has it in the 200-meter Individual Medley, but she will be far from the favorite to defend her title and it would be surprising if anyone other than Shiwen walked away with the gold. 

Rice barely even qualified for the event, finishing a disappointing fifth in her heat, a full 2.5 seconds behind Shiwen and nearly a second off of second place Coutts. 

Rice will also compete in the relay again for Australia, which may be her best shot at gold. However, with teams like China and the USA lurking, it will still be difficult for her to pull of the top prize in that event as well.

To say she longer has what it takes may be a slightly unfair assessment of Rice's capability, and at least some of the blame for her disappointing performance thus far can be attributed to her recovery from shoulder surgery.

However, when the Olympics come around, only the best of the best will shine. Unless Rice finds something within herself to change the results of her previous performances at this years Olympics, she will walk away without a fourth gold medal to add to her trophy room when 2012 is finished, and it may even be the last time we see her compete in the pool at the Olympics.