BENGALURU: Australian swimming legend Stephanie Rice will be setting up her own academy in India with the stated aim to help the country’s swimmers win medals at the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games.
Rice won three Gold medals, all in world record time, at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
“I think it is because every coach in Australia has trained the likes who coached Michael Phelps or my coach Michael Bohl. They have had an opportunity to see what the best coaches in the world do and how they train their athletes and then they go and create their own programme,” PTI quotes Rice as having said.
“So, that is why I wanted to create my academy. I feel that I can bring my team of high-level coaches and we can have a big impact on the athletes here and bring all the Indian swimmers back to India and create the depth of whole swimming squad,” she told PTI in an interview on Tuesday.
India has swimming culture but lacks in infrastructure and professionally-managed coaching programmes, Rice said.
“I have been in India for three years and have been doing a number of swimming clinics. I had the opportunity to see a lot of swimming culture.”
“The most successful (swimmers from India) have gone to train in the USA, or Thailand, or Australia, because that’s where the great coaching programmes are and that is where I feel India lacks – in high performance coaches,” Rice said.
“There is talent everywhere and it has to be nurtured properly. I think there is definitely talent here (in India) and you have to nurture and train it properly,” the legend said, adding she has been keenly following the sport in India.
“I have always seen what is going on in Indian swimming and I am quite close actually with the top swimmers and understanding what they have been doing.
“I think there is a great potential right now (among the swimmers). I hope to coach some of the people who are doing well and also groom a lot of upcoming swimmers,” she added.
