Transformation beyond the pool: Stephanie Rice’s journey from Olympic Gold to MBA and reality TV

Olympic swimming legend Stephanie Rice says she struggled to find herself for years after she retired from the regimented and public life of swimming, but has now turned her focus from the pool to the books.

Stephanie Rice who is about to compete in SAS Australia. Picture: Liam Kidston

Stephanie Rice says she struggled to find herself for years after she retired from the regimented and public life of swimming but has now turned her focus from the pool to the books.

The 35-year-old Olympic champion said she surprised herself when she enrolled in a Master of Business Administration at the University of Queensland because she had always seen herself as an athlete and not an academic.

“If you had asked me at school if this is where I’d be now, I would have laughed,” she said.

Stephanie Rice is studying business administration at the University of Queensland. Picture: Liam Kidston

“I feel like I got to a point as a woman, and being single, that I was like, ‘how am I supporting myself over the next 10 years?’

“Of course, I would love to be married and have kids and do all of that personal growth. But from now until whenever that happens, what am I doing for me?”

Rice said she was yet to meet the right person but was focused on herself until love came along.

“When you meet somebody that you feel you can both benefit, and you both want to commit to supporting each other’s careers and each other’s passions, then I would happily step into a relationship,” she said.

Rice said it had been a challenge to find out what she was really interested in outside of swimming but she was hopeful that sharing her struggle would help other athletes making the transition in the future.

“I really hope that if someone’s in it now, they’re like, ‘OK, Steph struggled too and she’s got through it’,” she said.

Stephanie Rice is set to appear on SAS Australia.

Rice said she was also motivated to pursue her Masters to be more involved in the upcoming 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“To have been a kid dreaming of going to the Olympics to then going, to then being a part of developing and planning the Olympics in your home city – I just think that would be such a beautiful full circle,” she said.

Rice is also ready to make a splash in the realm of reality TV with her appearance on SAS Australia.

She said the show appealed to her because it was not “fake TV”.

“What you see is what you get.”