Stephanie Rice has landed a gig with Channel 9's Today Show as a health and fitness reporter. Picture: Phil Hillyard Source: News Limited
EVEN the model good looks and world-beating athletic ability haven't been enough to spare Olympic swim star Stephanie Rice an ugly introduction to life in the spotlight.
But two years after she wept through a public apology for calling the Springboks rugby team "faggots'' in an errant Twitter posting, Rice says she considers the national scolding which followed as one of the best things to ever happen to her.
A more mature Rice said yesterday she had "turned a corner'' in the wake of the controversy, which has now become the template for the Australian Olympic Committee's social media training.
The 24-year-old Beijing gold medallist was devastated by the offense her homophobic slur caused but she says it set her on a path to changing the public's perception of her as a brattish party girl.
"If I could have had things over I would have changed it, but I learned so much from the experience I am kind of glad that it happened. I gave the footage to the AOC and they now show it at all their briefings for Olympians because, as we realised in London, social media can be such a big tool and also something they try to pull you back from.''
A disappointed Stephanie Rice after failing to place in the women's 200m individual medley final at Olympic Games in London.
With injury forcing her out of the pool and into recovery mode this year, Rice has also turned that negative into a positive - earning a two-year contract with Channel 9's Today show as a health and fitness reporter.
Passionate about passing on the nutrition she learned the hard way as an elite athlete, Rice says she is using the opportunity to test the waters for a post-swimming career.
While she's yet to decide just when she'll hang up her goggles, the glamorous new TV star says her new job has renewed her focus and hunger to learn.
Moving to Sydney before Christmas, and launching a kids' swimwear range for the next gen of little Olympians, she says has also found personal "stability'' after a string of high-profile relationships and equally public break-ups.
"I'm meeting new people, I've got a new job to start on Monday and it's been so exciting.''
Today's executive producer Neil Breen, who orchestrated Rice's signing, said: "We couldn't be happier to have Steph come on board as a member of the Today family. She will be terrific for us and the network.
"It's not every day you have a multiple Olympic gold medallist join your team.
"And I don't think the early mornings will be a problem for her after years in the pool.''
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