Aussie swimmers banned from talking about billionaire benefactor
As the Commonwealth Games begin in Glasgow, Australian swimmers have been warned not to speak publicly about their billionaire benefactor, Gina Rinehart.
The billionaire head of the monolithic mining company Hancock Prospecting, Rinehart recently announced that her performance bonuses for Australian able-bodied and para swimmers will extend to the Commonwealth Games.
Gina Rinehart seen at a Swimming Australia event. Getty
On Thursday, Hancock Prospecting confirmed that swimmers will receive $20,000 AUD for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze medals, with an additional $30,000 available for any individual world record broken.
Alongside this, members of four-person relay teams will receive $5000 for gold, $3750 for silver and $2500 for bronze.
This money will be “deposited directly into their accounts within two weeks of the Games concluding”, meaning it will go straight to athletes and not be funnelled through Swimming Australia.
But as swimming action starts on Friday night, athletes have now been told explicitly that they are not to thank Rinehart in any media interview or TV broadcast for their bonus money.
It is understood by the Sydney Morning Herald that this memo has been enforced by Commonwealth Games Australia, not Swimming Australia.
“Australia’s best swimmers have a history of always showing up to the Commonwealth Games and we have seen that again here at Glasgow 2026,” a CGA spokesperson said.
“The opportunity to compete in the green and gold is the biggest incentive in making this happen.
“We commend Mrs Rinehart for her support of Australian sport, it is exemplary. The Australian team partner family has committed millions of dollars to deliver our team to the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.
“Mrs Rinehart and her companies are not Australian team partners.”
It’s not challenging to see why the CGA contingent gagged the Australian swim team from talking about Rinehart.
Their Australian “team membership agreement” has a clause stating that no athlete on the 2026 team will give media comment for reward.
Gina Rinehart celebrates after the Paris Olympics with Australia’s swimmers. Zoe Samios
Signed by every athlete competing in Glasgow, clause 4.9 states: “The athlete must not perform or enter into any agreements, arrangements or understandings for: authoring any public or media comment for reward … or any interview for reward”.
Rinehart’s stipend is only in relation to Australian swimmers, not a single other athlete in the nine other sports events competing in Glasgow will receive anything from Australia’s most wealthy individual.
Asked whether Rinehart’s financial backing was a positive thing, swimming star Kyle Chalmers said: “I mean, absolutely.”
“I’m not going to say that it’s not a good thing. I’m super grateful to have the support of CGA to get us here, but to be able to have some medal incentive, it gives us a lot more purpose and reason.
“Very grateful to have supporters. CGA has made this possible. To be able to have some incentive for all of our hard work, I think is crucial for especially us older athletes.”
The financial boom for swimming casts a long shadow over another Australian team competing alongside them in Glasgow: Netball Australia.
It’s difficult not to view this swimming incentive as a pointed contrast to the 2022 netball saga.
In late 2022, Hancock Prospecting withdrew a $15 million Netball Australia sponsorship after it was reported that Indigenous player Donnell Wallam expressed reservations about wearing a uniform with Hancock Prospecting’s logo.
Wallam cited comments by Rinehart’s father, Lang Hancock, from 1984 suggesting Aboriginal people should be sterilised.
Following the highly public fallout for Rinehart, she swiftly redirected her funding, pouring millions into individual Australian swimmers instead.
Swimming action begins on Friday night at 7:30pm AEST.
