Skip to main content

Gina Rinehart to pay bonuses to medal-winning swimmers

The mining baron was also involved with the 2024 Paris Olympics swim team.
The mining baron was also involved with the 2024 Paris Olympics swim team. DAVID GRAY / AFP

Australian swimmers competing at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow ⁠will earn up to $50,000 ($35,000) for individual gold medals won in world record times under an incentive scheme ‌funded by Gina Rinehart, the nation's richest person.

Swimmers in individual events will ‌earn $20,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for ‌bronze, while relay swimmers will earn between $2,500 and $5,000 ‌for finishing on the medal podium.

Swimmers clocking a world record ‌will earn an $30,000 bonus.

With Australia the most dominant swimming power by far in the Commonwealth, plenty of the team's top athletes ‌will be expected to cash in at ⁠Glasgow.

"These bonuses are a ‌way of Australia saying thank you and showing the appreciation our ​athletes deserve for bringing our country such a sense of pride and achievement,” mining billionaire Rinehart said ​in a Swimming WA statement on Friday.

“There is something very uplifting about seeing an Australian athlete stand on the podium ⁠while our flag ​is raised.

"Such exciting times make Australians proud and deserve to be celebrated."

Olympic gold medallist Mollie O'Callaghan may be a major beneficiary of the scheme as a leading contender in the 100 ‌and 200 metres freestyle, and is also a good chance in the 50 metres backstroke.

Rinehart and her company Hancock Prospecting have been prominent supporters of Australian swimmers in a sport where cash prizes are rare, even at the highest levels of competition.

Global governing body World Aquatics paid out $4.38 million in prize money at its swimming events last year, including $20,000 for gold medals at the world championships in Singapore.

Australian ‌Olympic and world champion Cameron McEvoy lamented that he ​did not earn a cent for clocking the men's ‌50 metres freestyle world record at a meet in China this year, while the drug-friendly Enhanced Games offered world record-setters million-dollar bonuses.

McEvoy will be favourite to win the 50m freestyle in Glasgow and claim his first individual ⁠Commonwealth Games title after ⁠taking minor medals in ‌2014 and 2018.

21+ | COMPETENT REGULATOR EEEP | RISK OF ADDICTION & LOSS OF PROPERTY | KETHEA HELPLINE: 210 9237777 | PLAY RESPONSIBLY & SAFELY |

Do you want to withdraw your consent to display betting ads?
Yes, change settings