Artistic Swimming Western Australia (ASWA) is extremely honoured and proud to have Mrs Gina Rinehart AO as our Patron. Mrs Rinehart and the support of the Hancock Prospecting Group has played an integral role over the past eight years in nurturing and developing our sport, transforming it into one that has, and continues to develop Western Australia’s artistic swimmers into accomplished women and world class athletes.
OLYMPIC swimming legend Dawn Fraser has thrown her support behind mining magnate Gina Rinehart amid the sponsorship scandal that’s left Netball Australia on the brink of financial disaster. Fraser, a four-time gold medallist and one of the country’s most celebrated athletes, also said she feared that Australia’s richest person would now stop sponsoring sport.
Yet because of historic comments made by her father, Ms Rinehart was discriminated against in this most public and objectifying way possible. That reductionist, reflexive reaction is shameful, and degrades the contribution any of us make in the here and now if we are forever going to be judged by those who came before us. If we start going down that path, where we can’t have sophisticated and nuanced conversations, then we’ll be left with a shell of our society and the financial losses of Netball Australia will look pale in comparison.
“Mrs G (Rinehart) has done a hell of a lot for not only swimming, but she’s looked after beach volleyball, she’s looked after women’s rowing and women’s synchronised swimming. ”I mean heavens above – what are these women doing.”
Olympic swimmer Dawn Fraser has thrown her support behind Gina Rinehart after its players took issue with her sponsorship deal over offensive comments made by her late father. Fraser hit out at the players, and praised Rinehart for backing minor sports over the years.
“Bring on summer.”
Swimmers from the Hedland Amateur Swim Club will travel to Karratha for the region’s biggest competition, the Hancock Prospecting Pilbara Championships, on November 25-27.
He said Rinehart sponsored his own charity Cows for Cambodia. “She’s the richest woman in Australia but still had the time for our little charity,” he wrote. “She was attracted by her love for the cattle industry and helped us to no end. Never once asking for anything in return.
The support that Hancock Prospecting and Mrs Rinehart AO have provided to Swimming WA and the sport of swimming spans over three decades and has made a significant contribution to the success of our elite WA swimmers at international level. Hancock Prospecting and Mrs Rinehart AO also support swimming across Australia including providing direct support to members of the Australian Swimming Team.
Swimming Queensland is proud of its long-standing partnership with Mrs Gina Rinehart and Hancock Prospecting and finds the negative characterisation in some quarters of Mrs Rinehart’s new sponsorship of another sport regrettable. Mrs Rinehart’s sponsorship of swimming spans more than three decades, ranging from swimming clinics for indigenous children in remote communities through to helping our high performance swimmers pursue their sporting dreams.
