Stephanie Rice has returned to the Middle East, reuniting with her husband after her new home city was hit by missiles earlier this month.
Rice moved to start a new life in Dubai in November, 2023, saying she had purchased a one-way ticket.
When she and her pastor husband Mark Lassey were married in January, 2025, the couple said they intended to live together in Dubai.
The couple are known to have spent time in Australia throughout 2025 with Lassey travelling regularly from Perth to Dubai as he leads churches Kingdomcity in Perth and Kingdomcity in Dubai.
Rice, who won three swimming gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, said she was looking forward to returning to the United Arab Emirates despite the ongoing conflict in the region.
“A week delayed, but it’s time to go home. Thank you for your prayers,” Rice captioned a selfie she posted from her flight this week.
She had earlier posted about missing Lassey and shared her plans to return to her new adopted home city of Dubai.
“Missing my husband. Missing my home,” Rice said.
“Praying I can get back to Dubai as soon as it’s safe!’ she wrote on her Instagram story.
On Thursday night (AEDT), the Aussie swimming great shared a video showing her husband picking her up from the airport.
“Back with my baby,” she wrote.
“He is so thoughtful. Welcomed me off the flight at 5:30am with a fresh coffee. I’m the most blessed!”
Australians in Dubai are among those frantically seeking to flee the region after a joint US-Israel operation killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and 40 of his top leadership.
The Iranian regime quickly returned fire, insisting it had the “right to defend itself”, and hit a number of targets in the UAE, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai, as well as the Middle East nations of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Jordan.
It comes as a building in central Dubai was hit by debris from an intercepted attack, the government media office said on Friday, after blasts shook the Middle East financial hub. Explosions rattled buildings in Dubai and a large cloud of smoke hung over a central area of the city, AFP correspondents said.
A drone fell near Dubai’s financial district, an AFP journalist saw, a day after some companies evacuated the area following Iranian threats against economic targets linked to the US and Israel.
Kuwait’s international airport also saw damage from drone attacks, civil aviation said.
This week the Australian government said it was continuing to “support Australians affected by the ongoing regional conflict in the Middle East as limited commercial flights resume and consular efforts expand across the region”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said commercial flights remain the fastest option for Australians to leave the Middle East.
“We understand these are difficult decisions for Australians who live and work in the Middle East and we encourage those who do wish to leave to do so now on commercial flights,” a message on the DFAT website read.
Due to heightened security concerns, the Australian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Australian Consulate-General in Dubai are closed.
“Terrorism is a threat, including in the UAE,” SmartTraveller’s advice said.
“Terrorist attacks could happen at any time or anywhere. Avoid possible targets including venues that draw in foreigners, tourists or crowds where possible.
In August Rice announced she was partnering with a swimming academy to work from Dubai and other locations.
Seeing her home city come under attack has clearly left the 37-year-old emotional.
She shared her feelings in a post on her Instagram stories where she reposted a message from the Australian Embassy of the UAE.
“Please help me in praying for all my friends, loved ones and people in the UAE that they would be protected and feel a tangible sense of God peace in the scary situation,” she posted.
The Aussie embassy’s message was a public safety notice for Australian citizens to “stay at home”.
Rice and cricket great Brett Lee are among many Australians who have moved to Dubai in recent years, setting down roots in the city.
– with AFP