It might be slightly misleading to say Australia has recorded the third-highest Olympic swimming medal tally in its history. The 18 swimming medals contributed to Australia’s record haul at Paris this year are, let’s be honest, a victory for team Gina Rinehart.
Australia’s richest person is “almost like this godmother figure”, two-time 2024 medalist and sport headline writer’s dream Elijah Winnington told a press conference this week. “I don’t know many other financial backers would come to the swimming every single night, waving the Australian flag and standing up for every single person’s race. Without her financial support, we would have nothing other than prize money.”
The mining magnate responded to Australia’s early flurry of medals by holding a lavish celebration of “Gina Inc” — a boat party down the Seine featuring a dress code of gold Rossi Boots and, less strictly observed, white shirts from Rinehart’s beef producer, S. Kidman & Co (meals via Rinehart’s 2GR wagyu beef). Oh, and if you were an athlete you had to be able to accessorise with a medal — no podium finish, no invite.
Rinehart has dropped roughly $10 million a year on swimming, beach volleyball and rowing since 2012.
So how much does that work out per medal? We note that Australia’s beach volleyball duo, denied a chance at gold overnight by Brazil, are yet to play for a potential bronze, so that may change the margin slightly.
If we go from the last Olympics, held in 2021 thanks to COVID-19, and assume Rinehart put in around $30 million since then, the 19 medals — 18 in swimming and a bronze in the rowing; we’re excluding our silver in marathon swimming) — so far in the sports that Rinehart directly supports cost her roughly $1,578,947.36 each.
Or, to put it another way, regardless of what happens in the beach volleyball third-place match, each medal has cost more or less what Rinehart makes every hour, according to an Oxfam report in January.
