Many things have been said about Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, and not all of them positive. But in the world of Australian swimming, superlatives comes thick and fast. According to Cate Campbell, a four-time Olympic gold medallist, Rinehart “saved swimming”. Her sister, fellow Olympian Bronte Campbell, describes the billionaire as a “unique patron”. To Swimming Queensland’s chief executive, Kevin Hasemann, Rinehart is Australian sport’s greatest benefactor since “Santa Claus”.
And so the news that the Olympic gold medallist Kyle Chalmers and his colleagues had campaigned for Rinehart in relation to portraits she disliked by the artist Vincent Namatjira was not surprising, even if its timing – when all eyes are otherwise on preparations for Paris 2024 – was unexpected. To understand why Hasemann and some of Australia’s top swimmers would go into bat for Rinehart on a matter entirely unrelated to the pool, one need only look at the financial hold the mining magnate has over the sport.
