Gina Rinehart watches on as Aussie swimming team blows the world away
Article courtesy of the Chronicle.
Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart has made an eye-catching appearance on a day when the Aussie swimming team went berserk.
Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart picked a bloody good time to make a surprise poolside appearance at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
The mining mogul on Saturday watched on as the Dolphins continued to show their class with another series of gold medals.
Australia has blown the American team out of the pool with 13 gold medals in Fukuoka. Heading into the final day of competition in Japan, Australia has an overwhelming lead on the medal tally with China (five gold) and the United States (four) nowhere near it.
Australia snatched another three gold medals on Saturday night with Kaylee McKeown making it a backstroke trifecta with victory in the 200m backstroke.
Cameron McEvoy earlier won gold with an absolutely blistering swim in the 50m freestyle.
McEvoy, 29, is a three-time Olympian and has reinvented himself into a bulked up sprinting beast after making his name as the fastest Australian man to swim the 100m freestyle.
His incredible swim was matched by a world-record snapping swim by the Aussie 4x100m mixed freestyle relay team which powered away to a win by two seconds.
The team of Shayna Jack, Mollie O’Callaghan, Kyle Chalmers and Jack Cartwright were surprisingly subdued after making history when O’Callaghan touched the world in a new record time of 3:18.83.
It was the third world record set by an Australian relay team this week.
Hancock Prospecting in October issued a blistering statement slamming “virtue signalling” by sports teams after sensationally tearing up the rich agreement with the Aussie national team.
Diamonds players had raised concerns about wearing a team uniform that included sponsorship branding from Rinehart’s company. The concerns raised surrounded Indigenous player Donnell Wallam and comments made by Rinehart’s father Lang Hancock in the 1980s.
Her comments at the time juxtapose significantly with her ongoing arrangement with the Dolphins.
“Firstly, because sport is at its best when it is focused on good and fair competition, with dedicated athletes striving for excellence to achieve their sporting dreams and to represent our country at their very best,” the statement said.
“Secondly, because there are more targeted and genuine ways to progress social or political causes without virtue signalling or for self-publicity. For example, the meaningful engagement with local Indigenous communities undertaken by Hancock’s Roy Hill Community Foundation in West Australia to support their actual needs.
“Thirdly, because there are more impactful means to make a beneficial difference. For example, Hancock’s holistic support for real programs including Hanrine Futures — that are providing a true pathway for Indigenous students through education and into employment where they are guaranteed a job should they wish, at the end of their training.
“The reality is that sponsorship is integral to sports organisations — for full-time professionals right through to young children at the grassroots level — who rely on corporations investing the funds that enable all sports to not only survive, but thrive.”