Rinehart steps up after London fallout with $10m pledge

MINING magnate Gina Rinehart, has offered an extra $10 million over the next four years to the nation's leading swimmers.

THE world's richest woman, mining magnate Gina Rinehart, has come to the rescue of the ailing Australian team, pledging to help Swimming Australia provide an extra $10 million over the next four years to the nation's leading swimmers.

Rinehart and Swimming Australia yesterday announced they would jointly establish the Georgina Hope Foundation Support Scheme, which will provide personal financial assistance to both elite and developing swimmers, including disabled competitors, as they prepare for national and international competition.

The scheme will provide living allowances, squad funding, scholarship and performance funding.

Swimming Australia president Barclay Nettlefold said Rinehart had contacted the national body to offer support after seeing the adverse publicity that followed the national team's poor London Olympics results.

"Gina's been a big supporter of the sport for over 20 years," he said.

"Both she and her kids have been involved and she has been funding small programs in Western Australia and Queensland. She had some concerns about how the swimmers were treated in London so she made a call and said she'd like to help. She's putting money into a sport that's close to her heart."

Rinehart said in a statement that she had been supporting the sport since 1992 and she hoped the foundation would make sure that Australia's swimmers "have every opportunity to train and compete at the highest possible level".

Much of the ill-feeling that has developed between the national body and the Australian Swimmers Association this year has been over a new funding model which was approved by the board just before the Olympics without their input, but Nettlefold said this new funding stream would address many of their concerns.

"I'm so excited about it because I believe that it will enable the sport to bring all swimmers together with a common objective," he said.

"It will enable swimmers to become professional and it will enable us to release some of our other funds to support and secure our coaches so we don't lose them to other countries.

"This is a game changer for us."

While a handful of the highest-profile Australian swimmers make a good living, most of the national team struggle to support themselves.