Stephanie Rice: Retired Olympic swimmer breaks year-long silence on Dubai life with surprising career update
It’s been a whirlwind 18 months for Stephanie Rice, who shared a new development in her career and life in the Middle East.
Former swimming champion Stephanie Rice has offered an update on her life and career following a whirlwind period in which she moved to Dubai and married Perth Christian pastor Mark Lassey.
After remaining tight-lipped on social media for much of the past 12 months, the three-time Olympic gold medallist brought her 140k followers up to speed with her journey.
“A year ago I had a full time corporate job, two consulting projects, and two brand partnerships. Today I have no job, no partnerships. no projects, and honestly I’m more excited than ever,” she began.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“I took on my first ever employment role after working for myself for over 20 years . . . and my husband’s role within the church changed to lead our campus here in Dubai.”
Mr Lassey is a father to three sons, and after serving Kingdomcity church in Perth, has become a regional pastor based in the Middle Easy and Subcontinent.
Rice, 38, said she had begun to feel “stretched” trying to navigate all of her commitments, while also pursuing ways to share her Christian faith in her new home.
In a further development earlier this week, the retired swimmer shed light on her endeavours in the business world.
“After eight months in my first ever employment role, I was given a promotion and asked to take over as CEO. But God had other plans,” she said.
Rice said she was “asked to step in at a director level which is basically unheard of”.
She continued: “After eight months in the role I was asked to take over as CEO. Of course I tried to act very nonchalant in the meeting but I was so excited, because this is something that I really dreamed my career would head into — the position of chief executive officer.
“I just had no idea it would happen so quickly.”
Rice then suggested there was a spiritual intervention from God that made her re-think her decision and consider her options.
Now having left the corporate world, at least for the moment, Rice admitted the uncertainty of what lay ahead “definitely makes my logical brain hurt”.
Retiring from professional swimming in 2014, the former athlete shifted her focus to public speaking and business endeavours, and in recent years completed an MBA from the University of Queensland.
In 2009, the year after her triple triumph in Beijing, she was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia.
