Gina Rinehart to the rescue again as the billionaire Aussie mining magnate makes a stunning offer to some of the country’s biggest sport stars – and helps Channel Seven into the bargain
Gina Rinehart is once again Swimming Australia’s white knight following her generous offer for the nation’s stars in the pool ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow later this year.
Australia’s richest person – worth a reported $38 billion – will award $30,000 if world records are broken and $20,000 in cash for athletes who snare gold medals.
And as part of a ‘Patron’s Medal Achievement Incentive Fund’, silver and bronze medallists will bank $15,000 and $10,000 respectively.
As a result, the likes of Kyle Chalmers and fellow Olympic gold medallists Mollie O’Callaghan, Kaylee McKeown, Cam McEvoy and Zac Stubblety-Cook are now tipped to compete at the Commonwealth Games.
It also isn’t the first time Aussie swimmers have benefitted from Rinehart’s generosity.
Cash bonuses were offered at the 2023 and 2025 world championships in Fukuoka and Singapore, as well as at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Gina Rinehart is once again Swimming Australia’s white knight following her generous offer for the nation’s stars in the pool ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow later this year (pictured, with Kyle Chalmers)
Gina Rinehart will award $30,000 if world records are broken and $20,000 in cash for athletes who snare gold medals in Glasgow (pictured, backstroke star Kaylee McKeown after winning gold at the Paris Olympics)
In addition to swimming, Rinehart also supports artistic swimming and beach volleyball through her mining company Hancock Prospecting along with her foundation
The development will also delight Channel Seven, with the broadcaster securing the rights to the 2026 and 2030 Commonwealth Games.
A weakened Dolphins squad wouldn’t have helped television ratings – and in February, rising Brisbane track sprinter Gout Gout announced he wouldn’t be competing in Glasgow, instead focusing on the World Athletics Under 20 Championships to be staged in August.
In addition to swimming, Rinehart also supports artistic swimming and beach volleyball through her mining company Hancock Prospecting along with her foundation.
Since 2012, her investment in the Australian Olympic team has been reported at $80million.
‘I don’t say this lightly, but Gina Rinehart saved swimming,’ four-time Olympian Cate Campbell previously told the Australian Financial Review.
‘Gina Rinehart stepped in (after many sponsors abandoned ship following the poor London 2012 campaign in the pool).
‘She made funds available that went directly to athletes. ‘This allowed many athletes – myself included – to see that there was a future career in swimming for us.
‘I’m not sure where a lot of swimming careers would have ended up if there hadn’t been this injection of funds.’
Following the Paris Olympics, Rinehart said she was looking forward to Australia hosting the Brisbane Games come 2032.
‘We have the opportunity to make Queensland shine. I hope the money spent will be invested wisely, and provide infrastructure of benefit for decades ahead,’ she said.
