Secret bonus payments found in Commonwealth Games as Australian athletes risk bans for breaking rules
Australian swimmers at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow are getting some extra motivation with special cash rewards. Billionaire Gina Rinehart is offering $20,000 for gold medal winners, $15,000 for silver, and $10,000 for bronze medalists. If an Aussie swimmer breaks a world record, they’ll earn a cool $30,000 from Rinehart’s prize fund—probably after swapping their Speedos for something with pockets!
A spokesperson for Commonwealth Games Australia told The Guardian, “The biggest thrill is competing in the green and gold. We really appreciate Mrs. Rinehart’s support of Australian sport—it’s outstanding. However, she and her companies are not official partners of the Australian Team.”
While these bonuses don’t break any Commonwealth Games rules, athletes have agreed not to talk about rewards that aren’t connected to official sponsors until after the Games finish on August 2. Neither Commonwealth Games Australia nor Swimming Australia is involved in this bonus offer.
Rinehart will have plenty of checks to write after the Games wrap up because Aussie swimmers are smashing it. By the end of the busy first weekend at Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Australia took home 16 of the first 26 gold medals, plus eight silvers and 10 bronzes, leading both the swimming leaderboard and overall medal tally.
The men’s freestyle events saw all-Australian podiums in both the 50m and 400m races. Gold medalists include Cameron McEvoy, Sam Short, Sam Williamson, Timothy Hodge, Alex Saffy, Mollie O’Callaghan, Lani Pallister, Iona Anderson, Jenna Forrester, Alexandria Perkins, Jenna Jones, the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team, the men’s 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relay teams, and the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay team.
So far, Australian swimmers have broken four Commonwealth records at these Games, though no world records yet. McEvoy set Australia’s only individual Commonwealth Games record this weekend, finishing about half a second ahead of teammates Flynn Southam and Jamie Jack in the men’s 50m freestyle.
At 32, McEvoy was chasing his own world record of 20.88 seconds—a time just under a tenth faster than his new Commonwealth record. That previous world record had stood for 17 years since the China Open in March. As the reigning Olympic and world champ over 50 meters, McEvoy is one of Rinehart’s brightest hopes to put a big prize in the bank this summer.
“There’s something really special about seeing an Australian athlete on the podium as our flag goes up,” the mining and agriculture billionaire said in a statement.