And Australia’s Golden Girl of the Tokyo Olympics is… Gina Rinehart. Yeah, yeah, I know. Ariarne Titmus, Emma McKeon and Kaylee McKeown did pretty well too, but they couldn’t have done it without Gina’s help. Australia’s richest woman, with $30 billion in the kick, was one of the major reasons these Games have been the best for Australia since, well, ever.
But as Australia digests the week that was and contemplates how to better it, it’s worth pointing out that 11 of the 17 gold medals and one bronze came in disciplines in which the living costs of athletes were not covered by their sporting organisations or government funding, but were paid for by one benefactor alone: the country’s richest person, Gina Rinehart.
Lucy was a recipient of Rowing Australia’s Gina Rinehart Leadership Award in 2017. Congratulations on this terrific effort to Lucy, the rest of the crew, president Rob Scott and CEO Ian Robson at Rowing Australia, the rest of the Rowing Australia team and particularly Gina Rinehart, who has done such an
outstanding job of sponsoring our Olympic athletes, including the rowing team and the swimming team, and what an outstanding effort that is.
“We stayed really patient because there was a bit of a patch where I don’t think we were right where we wanted to be but we stayed really strong and took time out in the second set. “So proud of Mariafe. We have one more step. An excited de Solar made it clear what she wanted to take home. “Gold baby! We’re playoff – we’ve played some good games but we’re ready for it,” she yelled.
Following the disappointing results in London, mining magnate Gina Rinehart of Hancock Prospecting quietly stepped in with a huge financial contribution to sponsor four different Olympic disciplines; swimming, rowing, volleyball and artistic swimming. That was clearly a turning point. Now, this long-term commitment, involving establishing training centres and paying salaries, has borne fruit.
“We are one of the best teams in the world,” Clancy said. “Everybody is, that’s why it’s the Olympics. “It was tough that we had to face Mel and Sarah this early, but it’s such a great opportunity that we got to take on that battle early. “Now we just have to do it all over again.”
“We’re in a really good place – mentally, physically, emotionally – and ready to take revenge.”
