After retiring from swimming, Stephanie Rice felt lost. Now, she's found a new love.

When Stephanie Rice announced an end to her swimming career in April 2014, she tried to avoid the word 'retiring'. To her, it suggested the end of everything, as if she, at the age of just 25, was off to live out her days on a beach somewhere.

In truth, the Olympic champion had no idea what was in front of her: an awakening, a new career, and even a future husband.

Speaking on sports podcast The Howie Games, the Olympic Champion said she languished for almost four years in a sort of professional "no-man's-land", with nowhere to direct the drive and passion she'd felt for her sport.

"I applied for jobs, and when I put on the résumé 'three-time Olympic gold medallist', I never got past the first application stage because I'm sure people look at it and go, 'That's cute, but what skills do you have and what experience do you have in this space or sector?'

"I don't have any skills that transfer, and that is really hard. Because you've literally worked so hard to refine those skills to be amazing and the best in the world, and now that means nothing."

During that period, when people asked Steph what she was doing with her life beyond the pool, she had no answer.

"I was lying the whole time, saying wishy-washy things like, 'Oh, I still do a bit of speaking and I do some brand ambassador work and a little bit of coaching'. Literally, those three things would take up five days of my year," she said.

"Really what I wanted to say was, 'I have no idea. I have no direction. I'm lost.'"

Since the dark days of 2014, Steph has turned her careers as a public speaker, sports commentator and brand ambassador into a more comprehensive gig.

10 years on from her personal crisis, she has also announced there's a new love in her life. And they're getting married.

Here's what we know about Steph's life now.

Stephanie Rice on finding love when she least expected it.

Things are now looking up for Steph, who today has announced her engagement to Mark Lassey — a father of three and pastor.

"Here's to fresh starts and second chances … Yes to a lifetime with you," she captioned the announcement post.

She then referenced a Bible verse: "Seek your happiness in the Lord, and he will give you your heart's desire. Psalm‬ ‭37‬:‭4‬."

The Olympian recently went public with her new relationship, revealing she has been dating Lassey since the start of 2024.

Alongside a carousel of photos of the couple, Steph expressed that despite their different lifestyles, they instantly connected and their relationship has flourished ever since they met.

"When we met almost five months ago, we both knew this was different!" she wrote.

"We come from such different backgrounds, so when a mutual friend saw the potential and connected us, we were both pretty unsure the other would be interested… not to mention the fact we live on opposite sides of the globe. But as God would have it, that first phone conversation made us feel like this was exactly where we were both meant to end up."

Stephanie Rice finds faith.

As a part of her journey, Steph has connected with a sense of faith, sharing the news of her spiritual reawakening.

"Old me would never have believed I would be here, in this position, knowing God, sharing His glory so boldly and speaking on stage in churches," she shared on her social media.

"Even still, right now, I am blown away with how much my life has changed over the past 6 months since being saved...I am the happiest I've ever been, more at peace, content and calm."

She hashtagged the Kingdom City church, a Pentecostal church.

Professional athletes, and the risk of 'identity foreclosure'.

Steph is not alone in her post-Olympics struggle. Life after retirement is notoriously fraught for professional athletes.

Australian basketball legend Lauren Jackson previously told Mamamia's daily news podcast, The Quicky, about her struggles after a devastating knee injury prematurely felled her career in 2016.

"I walked out of the Australian Institute of Sport and I immediately felt empty," she said.

"I had to get off all the medication that I was on [from a knee replacement], and completely restart my life. I was a 30 something-year-old walking into life completely untrained, unskilled and dealing with a whole lot of baggage."

Sports psychologist Dr Matthew Pink explained to Mamamia that this crisis is called 'identity foreclosure', in which a person becomes too singular in their sense of self.

Stephanie Rice, for example, was so eager to reclaim her identity as an athlete that, after leaving swimming, she briefly flirted with the idea of becoming a professional tennis player.

"I was searching for that one thing that would make me relevant again," she told The Herald Sun. "I knew how to do the athletic thing, I knew how to be resilient, I had all the skills to be a high performer, plus, tennis players compete until they’re older, they make a lot of money, they travel. It was ticking so many boxes. So I called up [retired Wimbledon winner] Pat Cash and asked him for tennis lessons.

"At the end of the two weeks [of lessons], I realised it wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t want to do all the hard training again, slogging it out. I didn’t want to start from ground zero. I wanted to be good at it already.

"That's the big problem: athletes are used to being so good at something, that when you’re not good at something it feels like it doesn’t go with your identity of being a high achiever."

Steph can laugh about it now. Some time spent overseas and reinvigoration courtesy of seminars from controversial self-help juggernaut Tony Robbins helped her find happiness and satisfaction with her new life.

But she has acknowledged that she will likely always mourn the person she once was.

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A post shared by STEPHANIE RICE (@itsstephrice)

Three years ago, she shared that sentiment in an Instagram post about the unique pain of watching the Tokyo Olympic Games from afar.

"After swimming, I felt lost, depressed, irrelevant and as though I had achieved the pinnacle of my life at 24 and everything moving forward would be far less exciting and special," she wrote alongside a video in which she wiped away tears.

"So in order for me to move on, I had to completely let go of the person I was as an athlete and rediscover myself without the title of being 'a swimmer'. This bought up loads of deep-seated insecurities that I was able to hide [behind] the validation and recognition I got by being a gold medallist.

"Honestly, now, after doing so much 'work' on myself, I truly am so so happy and content. I love my life and the people in it. But watching the Olympics reminds me of the person I was back then and it’s still hard not to feel sadness that that part of me is gone and isn’t coming back."

Luckily, since finding her pace in post-professional athlete life, Steph has been able to bring a new sense of positivity towards the games. She recently hosted the 2024 Paris Olympics for Stan, posting to say that she couldn't even "begin to tell you how much this role means to me."

"I no longer feel the loss, or lack, or splitting of emotions, I feel happy, content, blessed and grateful to be where I am right now and truly excited to be part of the Olympics in an emotionally healthy way," she shared.

"I pray every athlete competing will find that beautiful balance."

This article was originally published in 2023 and has since been updated with new information.

Feature Image: Instagram @itsstephrice.