Article by Julian Linden courtesy of The Australian.
Australia’s Olympic hopefuls have been given a massive boost to go for gold in Paris next year with generous sports supporter Gina Rinehart tipping in a $3 million incentive for the big winners.
Australia’s richest person has again dipped into her own pocket to give the country’s unsung sporting heroes a better chance of success.
The patron of some of Australia’s most-loved and admired teams from both the Olympics and Paralympics – including swimmers, rowers, volleyball players and artistic swimmers – Rinehart already pours millions into helping these athletes chase their dreams.
But this new $3 million scheme is a game changer because it will reward competitors who won medals at selected world championships in 2023 and 2024 as well as the Paris Olympics and Paralympics.
For example, any Aussie swimmers who won gold at last month’s world championships in Fukuoka will receive a $20,000 cash prize in the next two weeks, plus $30,000 for a world record.
For a team that won three gold medals and broke six world records, that’s like winning the lottery twice – because they also got bonuses from World Aquatics, the sport’s global governing body.
And it’s not just gold medals either. Anyone who wins silver or bronze at world championships or the Olympics and Paralympics will also get the bonus in the sports that Hancock Prospecting supports.
“Off the back of Australia’s record-breaking performance at the World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka in Japan, our best international performance, I know that the athletes stood on those blocks feeling so well supported by the long-term direct athlete support that we have received now for over a decade from Mrs Rinehart,” Australian Swimmers Association president Bronte Campbell said.
Rowing Australia president Rob Scott said: “The financial support Gina Rinehart and Hancock Prospecting has announced, incredibly is on top of the recently reported $60m+ investment she has already enabled over the last decade, that supports our fantastic world class athletes.”
The announcement of the scheme comes at a time when Australian sports are struggling to make ends meet.
Earlier this year, the Australian Olympic Committee’s chief executive Matt Carroll told the National Press Club Australia’s smaller, traditional sports were heading towards a financial cliff because of a $2 billion reduction in federal government funding.
The funding shortfall has reached crisis levels for some sports, which faced the prospect of telling athletes they can’t afford to send them to qualifying events.
But just last month the government announced it had agreed to cover the costs for all the qualifying events for every sport at the Paris Olympics and Paralympics.
