[3] Rice was the gold medallist in the 200-metre individual medley at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, where she defeated Olympians Brooke Hanson and Lara Carroll in a time of 2:12.90, a personal best by 1.19 seconds.

American Katie Hoff won the gold in 2:10.13, with Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe in second place.

In placing second to Zimbabwean champion Kirsty Coventry, Rice set a new Australian and Commonwealth record of 4:37.18, a personal best by 3.61 sec.

In the process she reclaimed the world record from Hoff bettering the mark by 1.67 seconds, thus becoming the first woman to break the 4:30 in the event, (Kirsty Coventry also went under 4:30 in taking the silver).

Rice set a new personal best time of 4:40.79 in the 400-metre individual medley at an Italian meet in June 2007,[4] edging closer to the 4:40 barrier in the event.

At the 2007 Japanese Open Championships, Rice won silver behind Zimbabwean champion Kirsty Coventry in the 400-metre individual medley.

In doing so, she smashed her personal best time by 3.61 seconds, cracking the 4:40 barrier and setting a new Australian and Commonwealth record of 4:37.18.

[7] In Beijing, Rice won three gold medals (each in world record time) in the 200- and 400-metre individual medley events and in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay.

Her second gold medal of 2008 Games came on 13 August in the 200-metre individual medley with a new world record time of 2:08.45.

Despite losing her world record, she sliced 1.42 seconds off her personal best time while capturing a silver medal.

With the absence of Linda Mackenzie, Kylie Palmer and Meagan Nay, the team was never in medal contention, finishing 5th.

[11][12] In September 2010, Rice came under fire when she made a homophobic comment on Twitter,[13][14][15] relating to a Rugby Union match in which the Australian Wallabies defeated the South African Springboks.