Golden opportunities
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.
‘I was open to trying anything and everything’
“The expectation level you place on yourself
