team. She led off the team and Australia was in second place at the end of her leg. 2009 World Championships Rice began the meet with a solid performance in the 200-metre individual medley. Despite losing her world record, she sliced 1.42 seconds off her personal best time while capturing a silver medal. Experimenting with the 200-metre freestyle did not end well as she failed to make the final. With the absence of Linda Mackenzie, Kylie Palmer and Meagan Nay, the team was never in medal contention, finishing 5th. Rice retained her 400-metre individual medley record however finished with a bronze in the final. She was awarded a silver medal for her contributions in the medley relay heats. World Aquatics Championships 2011 Rice competed in the 200 m and 400 m individual medley. She failed to win a medal in 200 m medley finishing 4th in 2:09:65. In the 400 m medley she won a bronze medal with a time of 4:34:23, losing out on the silver by a deficit of 0.01 to Hannah Miley. 2012 Olympics Rice competed in London after undergoing three shoulder surgeries between the two Olympics. She finished fourth in 200 m individual medley and a joint sixth in 400 m medley. The London Olympics was her last stop as a swimmer and she eventually announced her retirement in April 2014. Personal bests Rice had a personal best of 2:07:03 in the 200 m individual medley achieved at the World Aquatic championships, Rome in 2009 and a personal best of 4:29:45 in the 400 m individual medley achieved during her gold winning effort at the Summer Olympics 2008. Awards 2008 - Telstra Australian Swimmer of the Year. 2008 - Swimming World Magazine Female World Swimmer of the Year as well as Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year 2009 - awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia 2019 - International Swimming Hall of Fame inductee 2019 - Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductee Personal life On June 17, 1988, Rice was born in Brisbane to Raelene Clark and Warren Rice. Rice attended Clayfield College in her high school years in Brisbane, Queensland. In September 2010, Rice came under fire when she made a homophobic comment on Twitter, relating to a Rugby Union match in which the Australian Wallabies defeated the South African Springboks. Rice's Twitter message said "Suck on that faggots!". Rice later removed the remark