Stephanie Rice tells of difficulties of transitioning back to normal life

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Olympic champion Stephanie Rice has opened up about the difficulties of transitioning to “normal life” after her success.

In the wake of separate and complex difficulties being faced by Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett and Geoff Huegill, Rice said “it’s been really sad to see a lot of the others, the boys in particular, going through a rough time.

The 25-year-old admitted she had “struggled” at times since winning three gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, until announcing her retirement from the pool earlier this year.

“It was all a really big challenge,” Rice said, becoming emotional during her interview. “Everything happened at one time and I definitely struggled. It hasn’t all been ‘easy breezy’ and I’ve just been smiling every day. There have been some really tough times.”