Shortly before the beginning of the finals session on Day 2 at Pan Pacs, Stephanie Rice held a press conference to announce that she’s done for the year, as we speculated that she might be earlier.

Rice, who has been getting through with cortisone shots, says that any more pain-killing shots would weaken her shoulder further and cause her more problems in the long run. Making the decision to sit out the rest of Pan-Pacs and the Commonwealth Games in October allows her to push up her surgery by 3 months. Along with the expected 4-months of recovery and rehab, this means that Rice will have roughly 5 months to prepare for Australian World Championship trials in April.

If Rice can’t go in October either, it would be another huge blow to the organizers of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, who have already taken huge publicity blows from terrorism fears, incomplete facilities, accidents during test events, and a rash of withdrawls from major sporting superstars. The list of athletes who have chosen to skip the event already includes Usain Bolt, Lleyton Hewitt, Chris Hoy,  Shelly Ann Fraser, and Samantha Stosur.

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