Australian Olympic swimmer Stephanie Rice breaks down during important video message

Australian Olympic swimmer Stephanie Rice say - I tossed around with posting this for a month or so because its important for me to try and articulate the raw emotions of this in the truest form.

she added - Watching the Olympics will always probably be tough emotionally for me, because it brings back so many strong emotions, both good and bad.

She more added in her post Many athletes and high performers speak about the challenges they face with mental health around transition. For me, transitioning was fuc*ing hard… and still is at times. 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 & special.

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 by the validation and recognition I got by being a Gold Medalist.

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…and that’s what the tears are for