Australian swimming great Stephanie Rice Friday said she is planning to set up an academy in India in her pursuit to produce future Olympic medallist from the country in her sport.
Rice won three gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics at the age of 20 and six years later she retired from the sport.
Beyond her television assignments and other promotional activities, she said her ultimate goal is to establish a swimming academy in India and groom Olympic medal winners.
"I am really working on it. I have had a number of opportunities to do that but just has not been the right time or the right infrastructure. I am quite passionate about India and I have spoken to quite a lot of people to start a swimming academy," Rice told PTI in an interview.
"If India has to do well in the Olympics, the country will have to win medals in sports like swimming."
"You need people who have done before, great coaches and great support staff and they will have to be given time of at least four years. It is not that you will get medal after working with an athlete for one year. So, if India wants to do well in 2024 Olympics, we need to start now."
Asked about this, Rice said, "There will have to be ramifications of what happened earlier (alleged state-sponsored doping by Russia) but at the same time you cannot withhold an opportunity for athletes (Russians) who are clean
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