Gina Rinehart portrait saga: largesse comes at a peculiar cost for Australia’s swimmers

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.

Rinehart has long sponsored swimming in her home state of Western Australia. But after the Australian team's unsuccessful London 2012 campaign, where the Dolphins collected just one gold medal and were embroiled in the "Stilnox six" scandal, sponsors began to abandon the sport at a national level. In stepped Rinehart.

In the subsequent decade, Rinehart has poured somewhere between $40m and $60m into swimming, considered by some analysts to be the largest individual contribution to an Olympic sport anywhere in the world. She has also made substantial contributions to rowing, beach volleyball and artistic (synchronised) swimming.

Two years ago Rinehart's mining company, Hancock Prospecting, became a major partner of the Australian Olympic Committee in a deal that runs until 2026. At the same time she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for her distinguished service to sport. Rinehart has hinted at extending her support through to the 2032 Brisbane Olympics (and called for enough super yacht berths at Queensland marinas to better facilitate her visits).

Some of this funding was orthodox sponsorship via a deal with Swimming Australia. Hancock Prospecting's logo became commonplace at elite swim meets around the country. The company still sponsors several major championships. But Rinehart's support for swimming has also been unusual in her direct-to-athlete funding, which expanded after a falling-out with the peak body.

Through the "Hancock Swimmer Support Scheme", Australia's swimmers receive salary-like payments across three tiers: for top Olympians, those on the cusp of the national team and younger athletes with potential. Australia's best swimmers reportedly received $32,000 directly from Rinehart in 2021. This would be supplemented by Swimming Australia funding and commercial endorsements.