Olympic champ Stephanie Rice reveals about her childhood days

Sydney -  Stephanie Rice, who has an impulsive streak but never gets bored following the black line in the pool, has spoken out about her childhood, school days and her friends.

Although the 23-year-old Australian swimmer seems like the type of girl to have a huge posse of pals who would sashay through the streets as if they were in a kind of subtropical Gossip Girl,  but again there is a disconnect between the image and the reality.

“I’ve never been someone who has had a big group of friends. I have four or five really great friends that get a text message now and then - they understand that they have to work around  my schedule,” the Syndey Morning Herald quoted her as saying.

“I’m definitely hard to reach and I feel guilty. I try to be as good as I can over the phone. I have two really close friends in the US who I talk to every day. They both swim,” she said.

The people who understand Rice the most are other swimmers.

“I have a lot of friends in swimming. We [the squad who train together in Brisbane] do a lot of things together as a group - my friends are all very similar, and have goals and ambitions,” Rice  said.

The squad is not competitive outside the water, she says, and will often go out for brunch or coffee after a training session.

Rice gravitated towards swimming after being bullied in primary school.

“It was the crappiest time of my life and I found a lot of friends in swimming. I was really shy,” she said.

“I always felt like a loser at school. The other kids would purposely go out of their way not to include me. I'm thankful I went through it now - it made me,” Rice said.

Rice then reflected on being bullied.

“The people who have been successful - they are a bit different and never really fitted in,” she said.

“I’m someone who never likes to be the same as other people. I have always been very driven and had a goal in life, and a lot of people at school never did,” Rice said.

With her focus on winning gold at the Olympics, Rice’s social life is low-key. Most nights she is in bed by 10pm, distracted only by social media - replying to Twitter messages or checking

Facebook.

Rice is a classic boomerang kid, leaving home on several occasions before returning to the nest again.

“I’ve moved out four or five times, then moved back home for Olympic preparation.

“I lived with a swimmer for 18 months, and I lived on my own for a year and I didn’t like it. I love my own space, but I miss having people around,” she said.

She then went on to speak about her boyfriends.

“I lived with Quade [Wallabies fly-half Quade Cooper] for a year. It was definitely fun and I loved coming home from a big training session and cuddling up with him and watching a DVD,” she

said.

The pair split in December.

Rice previously dated fellow swimmer Eamon Sullivan, but the pressures of the Olympics ended their two-year relationship just before the Beijing Games in 2008.

“I’m not seeing anyone and I don’t want to. You give them [a boyfriend] the opportunity to affect your emotions and head space and I don’t want that,” she said.

Finally, she was asked what if she met someone and fell in love?

“I’m not sure if I would allow myself to fall in love right now. It’s weeks until the Olympics. For the first time in my life, I’m confident being single,” she added.