According to her Twitter account, Australian superstar Stephanie Rice has been told by her doctor that she should be cleared to begin training again tomorrow. That would mark just about a week since having a second surgery on her right shoulder, though the latest was much more minor than the first one.
"Arvo": Australian for "Afternoon"
Assuming that she has no more complications with her shoulder (though it’s unlikely to be 100% until well after her post-London retirement), if she can truly get back into training tomorrow, she should be fine by the Australian Trials which are perfectly-placed in March. This period out of the water will register as little more than a mid-season rest meet. The timing of Trials is the key – they’re far enough away that she should be in good shape by then (though don’t be surprised if she cuts an event out of her meet schedule), and should be left with plenty of time for another complete training cycle by the Olympics.
Update: Upon waking up on Tuesday morning, Rice was informed that she would be able to get her stitches out, which caused her to Tweet: “Good news… I’m allowed to get my stitches out today… Yay!!”.
She needs to cut the 400 IM. The amount of work needed to be good in that event is a bit much for a shoulder to bear. She should probably stick with shorter events, 100 fly, 200 free, 200 im.
she got infection on her shoulder, and she is delaying the return to pool practice.
I think she will drop the 100 and 200 fly and focusing on 200/400IM.
The 200 fly would take too much on her shoulder.