Rice to start academy in India

Mumbai: Australian swimming legend Stephanie Rice will be setting up her own academy in India with an aim to help the country’s swimmers win medals at the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games. Rice won three gold medals, all in world record time, at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. “I think it is because every coach in Australia has trained the likes who coached Michael Phelps or my coach Michael Bohl. They have had an opportunity to see what the best coaches in the world do and how they train their athletes and then they go and create their own programme,” Rice said. “So, that is why I wanted to create my academy. I feel that I can bring my team of high-level coaches and we can have a big impact on the athletes here and bring all the Indian swimmers back to India and create the depth of whole swimming squad,” she told PTI in an interview on Tuesday. Competing in the 2012 London Olympics after undergoing three shoulder surgeries, Rice finished fourth in 200m individual medley and a joint sixth in 400m medley. She announced her retirement in 2014. India has swimming culture but lacks in infrastructure and professionally-managed coaching programmes, Rice said. “I have been in India for three years and have been doing a number of swimming clinics. I had the opportunity to see a lot of swimming culture.” Rice said. (PTI)