If there's one thing I hate more than an athlete being everywhere I turn - on the cover of every publication I pick up, being interviewed on every radio and television station around, haunting my dreams - it's an athlete who is everywhere I turn and yet never wins gold when it counts.

During the Athens Olympics, my seething hatred (influenced by the aforementioned media omnipresence) was directed toward Jana Pittman and Her Bloody Knee. This year, I expected I would make it through the the Beijing Games gripping happily onto my distaste for Stephanie Rice which made itself obvious last week during the "I Have Split Up With My Boyfriend, I Repeat, I Have Split Up With My Boyfriend - Is This Thing On? Do You Need Me To Write Down A Statement Too?" blitzkrieg.

But what's this?!

 

Hello! Stephanie can now blather on about Eamon all she likes and strip off for as many lads mags that time (and Facebook commitments) permit because bitch just won gold for Australia, and that's all it takes to get me onside during this emotionally shallow fortnight of SPORT SPORT FUCKING SPORT.

[Stephanie Rice] drew on everything she had to overcome the pain surging through her body as she closed in on Olympic gold in the 400m individual medley at the Water Cube yesterday.

Rice's stunning victory in world record time gave the Olympic team its first gold medal of the Games and Australia its 400th summer Olympic medal, but it was a win that hurt like nothing before.

Latest Facebook status update?

Steph is a gold medal winna lol!! bit tired an i miss eamon :(((

Bravo, Ms Rice.

(Are the Olympics over yet? No? Oh.)

Tags: au | gold gold gold | olympics | stephanie rice