Stephanie Rice, winner of three gold medals in Beijing - and all of them in world record time - may add the 200m freestyle and the 100m and 200m butterfly to her race schedule for the World Championships in Rome, 2009, according to her Brisbane coach Michael Bohl.
"I could see her including the 200 (butterfly) and 100 butterfly," Bohl told AP as his fastest charge returned to training this week for the first time since Beijing. "I think she has an incredible technique in the 'fly, she holds the stroke well ... she's such a hard worker. We don't want to overdo it, but we need some races to keep her interested and make it refreshing for her."
A Phelpsian schedule in prospect then? Rice is not so sure. "Michael Phelps is such a talented athlete and has the capability to do all those events, and I'm not sure I'm that kind of athlete," said the double Olympic medley champion. "I really admired his composure [Phelps in Beijing], the way he held himself together throughout the week. I was up and down with my emotions and my excitement ... I don't think I've mastered that yet."
Rice returned to the fray this week at the St. Peters Western club pool in Brisbane on the Gold Coast where she has spent the past five years getting ready for what turned out to be one of the best performances by an Australian woman in the pool ever, surpassed only by Dawn Fraser and Shane Gould in the modern era, while pioneer Fanny Durack might have had a thing or two to say about dominance in her day.
For now, Rice is looking at easing in with two hours of water work a day, as opposed to the pre-Beijing regime of rise and shine at 5am for two and a half hours in the pool, gym work, rest, then back for more pool work by 3.30pm. "It won't be that intense at this stage, maybe just two hours," Rice told AP.
Life in and out of the pool will be different this time round: the target of becoming an Olympic champion in a world record - and ambition that Rice predicted would come to fruition in Beijing when she spoke to camera on a web film back in 2007 - is behind her, retaining crowns ahead of her; former boyfriend Eamon Sullivan, world 100m freestyle record holder is gone but not forgotten ("We shared two years together, and I know him so well," Rice said. "We went through highs and lows. He's a great guy, and we definitely didn't want to compromise our friendship, so we made the decision we did."); and there is money, much money, in the bank - a deal of between A$700,000 and A$800,000 (depending on which source may have it right) with an Australian TV network has seen her host a model contest and appear in a home and gardens show, while an underwear campaign with Sullivan has been lucrative for models and the company that lives for lingerie.
Meanwhile, the build-up begins in the pool once more, the race targets Aussie trials in March and then Rome 2009 en route to attempting to emulate Yana Klochkova (UKR), perhaps, with an Olympic double double on medley.
