AusLeisure

Facing the threat of expulsion from international swimming by World Aquatics unless it makes changes to its constitution to be more inclusive of athletes, a special general meeting of Swimming Australia being held today has been rocked by media reports of over the body's loss of direct funding from sponsor Hancock Prospecting and its Executive Chairman Gina Rinehart.

Reports today in News Limited publications and the Daily Mail suggest "incredible, unprecedented turmoil" at Swimming Australia and that it lost its billionaire former sponsor due to irregularities over payments to athletes.

Despite Australia securing 13 gold medals at the recent World Championships in Japan, making Australia the world’s top ranked swimming nation, the reports point to "the sport in Australia is leading a bizarre double life, mixing record medal hauls with mayhem".

Noting that the backing from Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting allowed athletes to train as fulltime professionals, the reports, favourable to Rinehart and seemingly backing her agenda, advise that Rinehart has injected more than $60 million into Olympic and Paralympic sports and still sponsors 92 elite swimmers "but her relationship with Swimming Australia was broken two years ago".

In that time it is understood that Swimming Australia's sponsorship has dropped from around $10 million to just over $3 million a year.

Rinehart’s own swimming gala awards night - The Patron’s Awards - at her home in Brisbane next month is partly a consequence of a funding fallout over two gala awards nights which never happened.

Last month a report in Nine newspapers indicated that when President of Swimming Australia, current Australian Sports Commission Chief Executive Kieren Perkins had felt Rinehart was trying to “coach the team and run the board".

This overreach also included a request for a seat on the Swimming Australia board for a representative of Hancock Prospecting - subsequently rejected amid concerns over her influence as a sponsor.

Swimming Australia was quoted by Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph as saying “during the re-negotiation process it was clear a number of Hancock Prospecting’s terms, including the mandating of board and executive positions, were not capable of acceptance”.

Rinehart was reported as saying that she did not “think it is an unusual or unfair expectation for any sponsor of sports to be sure its funds are going to the athletes and if applicable for agreed purposes” and that a “voiceless observer” was “hardly an interference with the board”.

Today’s special general meeting is being held after a stern letter from the world governing body which called for changes to the constitution within 90 days “to make it more representative and inclusive of its athletes”.

Speaking about the changes being considered at the today’s meeting, Swimming Australia’s president, Michelle Gallen, said were much needed and would bring “stability to how our sport is governed”, noting "the message from the governing body is abundantly clear.

“If we don’t make these necessary changes, then our standing in the sport is in jeopardy.”

The proposed new constitution has been endorsed by World Aquatics but has not yet been published.

World Aquatics Executive Director, Brent Nowicki noted “World Aquatics welcomes the changes to the Swimming Australia constitution, which will give more power to athletes and a voice on the board, while also delivering a broader voting base more closely connected to athletes and coaches."

in 2019, Swimming Australia honoured Rinehart with its Lifetime Contribution Award.

Images: Top, credit: Swimming Australia and Gina Rinehart (below, credit: Hancock Prospecting).

Related Articles

6th October 2023 - World Aquatics cancels Swimming World Cup open category competitions after failing to attract entrants

27th September 2023 - Swimming Australia High Performance Director resigns to take up similar role at USA Rugby

7th September 2023 - Swimming Australia names interim President

6th September 2023 - Nine Network’s partnership extension with Swimming Australia to benefit fans

1st September 2023 - Swimming Australia President moves to Chief Executive’s role at National Sports Tribunal

28th August 2023 - Swimming Australia welcomes SIXT as official vehicle rental partner

25th August 2023 - World Aquatics partners with Bond University to open Gold Coast Development Centre

23rd August 2023 - Rowing Australia announces four-year funding agreement with Hancock Prospecting

17th August 2023 - Swimming Australia announces Special General Meeting to vote on constitutional change

17th August 2023 - World Aquatics threatens to remove Swimming Australia’s membership over compliance issues

11th August 2023 - Swimming Australia acknowledges support team and programs contributing to Dolphins’ success

31st July 2023 - Australia tops swimming medal table at World Aquatics Championships

18th July 2023 - Swimming Australia ‘disappointed’ with cancellation of Victorian Commonwealth Games

19th June 2023 - Historic partnership between Swimming Australia and Australian Swimmers Association unveiled in Melbourne

7th June 2023 - Swimming Australia and Griffith University partnership extends support beyond the pool

14th April 2023 - Eugenie Buckley to depart from Chief Executive role at Swimming Australia

11th April 2023 - Swimming Australia and Pho3nix Foundation partner to drive Junior Excellence program

23rd October 2022 - Hancock Prospecting challenges sports stars for airing concerns about sponsors

22nd October 2022 - Hancock Prospecting to end Netball Australia sponsorship

21st October 2022 - Sponsorship’s new paradigm

27th November 2019 - Swimming Australia honours Gina Rinehart with Lifetime Contribution Award

3rd March 2015 - Gina Rinehart to become major sponsor of Australian swimming team

---

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.