Retiring star in tears, Rinehart forks out $1.2m as Aussie swimmers break record
Updated . First published
Shayna Jack was overcome with emotion and in tears as she brought down the curtain on her career at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, on a day Australia’s utter domination of swimming soared to a record high.
On the final day of the swimming program in the Scottish city, Australia’s Dolphins team bumped its gold medal tally all the way up to 37.
Gina Rinehart poses with Lani Pallister and Dawn Fraser. Hancock Prospecting
Previously, the greatest haul of swimming gold medals attained by any country at a Commonwealth Games was 28 – a number Australia achieved at the 2018 edition on the Gold Coast.
It means Australia’s richest person, billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart, will have to retrieve $1.2 million of prize money out of her back pocket.
Rinehart had agreed to award Australia’s swimmers $20,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze via her mining business Hancock Prospecting.
Distance ace Lani Pallister, the god-daughter of Dawn Fraser, was the biggest winner of the billionaire’s cash splash. She earned herself $80,000.
With four days of competition remaining, Australia is leading the gold medal count with 47 – miles ahead of Canada (14) and England (12).
Jack’s emotional swansong
Almost five years after completing a two-year ban due to a performance-enhancing drug being found in her system, Jack rounded out her career with a bronze medal in a one-lap dash to savour.
The 27-year-old Queenslander played her part in a Dolphins podium sweep in the women’s 50-metre freestyle, along with gold medallist Meg Harris and silver medallist Alex Perkins.
“I touched the wall, and before I turned around, I told myself that I’m proud of everything that I am, not just my achievements,” Jack told reporters.
“And so all that emotion is just kind of coming out now. I really did contain myself pre-race and tried to still be that professional that had a job to do for my country, and that’s exactly what I did. I got on the podium, we had a clean sweep, and I couldn’t be prouder of myself and the girls I did it with.”
Jack has always maintained she did not knowingly ingest the drug Ligandrol and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled as such.
What if she hadn’t been forced out of the sport for two years? Could she have won an individual world championship gold medal?
“That’s a great question,” Jack said.
Shayna Jack after claiming bronze in the women’s 50m freestyle. Getty Images
She revealed she wouldn’t change how her career played out.
“If I knew that I would be the person I am today, yes, I would change nothing,” Jack said.
“I think a lot of people would be surprised by that because of what I went through and how hard it was, and how hard it was on my family, my fiancé.
“But I appreciate so much more in life because of what I’ve been through, and I’m more grounded.”
The Brisbane product retires as an Olympic, world and Commonwealth champion, as well as a world record holder.
The standout solo swim of her career was the time she claimed silver in the 50m freestyle at the 2023 world championships in Japan.
An autobiography is in the works.
From left: Alex Perkins, Meg Harris and Shayna Jack. Getty Images
“I don’t think I’ve really had enough time yet to reflect on everything that’s gotten me to this point,” she said.
“But I really do look forward to being able to do that, and that’s why I’ve spoken highly about writing my autobiography because I do think, whether people want to read it or not, in the end, it’s my own way of going through therapy and going through everything that I’ve achieved, [and] the highs, the lows, the adversity, the resilience, the true Aussie grit.
“I’m really proud of everything that I have done, but there’s a box that I haven’t opened because it’s really hard to open that box, and so I want to give myself time after my career to do that.”
