STEPHANIE RICE CALLS FOR MORE SUPPORT POST RETIREMENT

Former Olympic champion says more should be done to help yesterday’s heroes HOW do former athletes score a gig presenting medals at the Commonwealth Games? Apparently not even Order of Australia recipients and gold medallists Natalie Cook and Stephanie Rice know.

The two were at the Women in Sport luncheon at the Longines Records Club when they discussed their uncertainty at how that side of things worked at the Games.

“I was unsure about how the medals are being presented,” Rice said.

“I would have loved to present a medal because at my Comm Games in ’06 Hayley Lewis presented my gold medal in the 400 medley and she was such an icon for me so it was such a special moment.

“So I would have loved to have presented a medal for that same reason, but hopefully there will be another chance to do that.

“I’m sure there’s a lot of people who want to present medals, I just don’t know how it works.”

She understands though that with the sheer volume of successful retired Australian swimmers, it would be near impossible for the Commonwealth Games to acknowledge each one.

However, Rice believes this is an example of the lack of support retired swimmers receive after they hang up their caps.

“I do believe that in sport there are so many athletes so if they were to give out tickets to everyone, there’d be no tickets left,” she says.

“I think they should do a little bit more in swimming in particular.

“I’m in contact with a lot of the ex-swimmers who I swam with and there’s not a lot of us going to the Games and we’re all Brisbane based, so that to me says something about the support after you retire.

“But even outside tickets and medal ceremonies, I would like to see a little more support of athletes post retirement and I think that is more from a mental perspective than anything else.”

I think they should do a little bit more in swimming in particular