Stephanie Rice likely to retire after London Games

Melbourne: Australia`s triple Olympic champion Stephanie Rice is likely to retire after next year`s London Olympics, she said on Thursday.

The 23-year-old 200 and 400 individual medley champion at the Beijing Olympics said she did not expect to be able to maintain her motivation for another four years and go through to Rio in 2016. "I will be 24 (in London) and time to move on and make some new changes I think," Rice, who was also a member of the victorious 4x200 freestyle relay team in Beijing, told the Courier Mail newspaper in Brisbane. "I just know within myself I wouldn`t be able to give that effort for another four years." "Swimming requires so much commitment and dedication and I know if I`m not giving 100 percent to it I`m not going to get the results I want and I don`t see the point in doing something half-heartedly." Rice, who had shoulder surgery in 2010 and won just a bronze in the 400 IM at the world championships in Shanghai earlier this year, said her focus was now on ensuring she was in the best possible shape to sign off after London. "I didn`t think I`d be able to get down as low (weight and skinfolds) as I was in Beijing because I`m four years older now, a lot has changed, I`m doing a lot more gym so I`m really happy with how everything is going," she said. "I`m just making sure I dot all the Is and cross all the Ts now so I don`t have regrets later on." Bureau Report