Stephanie Rice, double Olympic medley champion for Australia in 2008, will undergo shoulder surgery on Wednesday. Her recovery and rehabilitation will exclude her from racing at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October, the world titles in Shanghai in July 2011 likely to mark her return to top flight international competition a year before she will seek to defend her Olympic crowns in London.

Rice has been suffering bursitis in her shoulder and was forced to withdraw from racing this month at the Pan Pacific Championships in California after one outing.

"She's still very down about missing Delhi, but I think she's hopeful that this will be the answer to her problems," Rice's coach, Michael Bohl tells Nicole Jeffrey at The Australian today.