Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has unveiled a generous bonus scheme for Australian swimmers competing at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, offering individual athletes up to $30,000 for breaking a world record and as much as $20,000 for each gold medal they claim in the pool.
Australia's wealthiest person and patron of the Dolphins swim team confirmed the incentive program ahead of the Games, which opened with a flag-bearing ceremony featuring pole vaulter Nina Kennedy and swimmer Tim Hodge leading the Australian contingent.
How the Gina Rinehart bonus scheme works
Under the terms of the program, individual swimmers stand to receive:
- $30,000 for touching the wall in a world record time
- $20,000 for a gold medal
- $15,000 for a silver medal
- $10,000 for a bronze medal
Members of relay teams are also rewarded, though at a reduced rate per person:
- $7,500 per swimmer for a world record
- $5,000 for a gold medal
- $3,750 for a silver medal
- $2,500 for a bronze medal
Rinehart confirmed that swimmers who win multiple medals will receive a separate payment for each one, with funds transferred directly into athletes' accounts within two weeks of the Games concluding.
"There is something very uplifting about seeing an Australian athlete stand on the podium while our flag is raised," Rinehart said. "Such exciting times make Australians proud and deserve to be celebrated."
"These bonuses are a way of Australia saying thank you and showing the appreciation our athletes deserve for bringing our country such a sense of pride and achievement," she added.
A long history of backing Australian swimming
Rinehart's investment in the sport is far from new. Her company, Hancock Prospecting, has supported swimming for more than three decades, and it was disclosed in 2023 that she had committed a total of $60 million to various Australian Olympic programs, including the Dolphins squad. Her involvement intensified after the 2012 London Olympics, where Australia collected just a single gold medal in the pool — a result widely regarded as a national sporting low point.
Beyond the bonus scheme, Rinehart also provides direct funding and scholarships to individual athletes, and serves as patron of Swimming WA, Swimming QLD, Rowing Australia, and Artistic Swimming Australia.
The incentive appears to be working as motivation. It is understood a number of Australia's leading swimmers had been considering skipping the Commonwealth Games in favour of the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, scheduled for August. Rinehart's financial announcement is said to have influenced their thinking.
Star-studded Dolphins squad heads to Glasgow
Australia has sent a 60-strong Dolphins team to Glasgow for the Games, headlined by household names including Kyle Chalmers, Mollie O'Callaghan, and Cam McEvoy. Rinehart has previously been pictured with Chalmers following the 2023 world championships, underscoring the close relationship between her patronage and the country's top-tier swimming talent.
The squad will be aiming to eclipse their own impressive benchmark from the previous Games. At the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Australia's swimmers claimed 25 gold medals from a possible 52 — a dominant performance that reflected just how far the program has come since its post-2012 rebuild.
With a deep talent pool and the added incentive of Rinehart's bonuses, the Dolphins will arrive in Glasgow as strong favourites across multiple events. For swimmers with a realistic chance of touching the wall first — or setting new global marks — the financial rewards add a compelling extra layer of motivation to what is already an intensely competitive environment.
For those tracking all things Australian sport on the world stage, the Glasgow Games promises to be a landmark event — and with Rinehart's dollars on the line, the Dolphins will be diving in with plenty more than national pride at stake.
