Inside Gina Rinehart’s exclusive Seine cruise for Australia’s medal winners

Paris: At eight o’clock on a warm Monday night in the Olympic city, Australia’s medal winners thus far stepped onto a luxury restaurant boat on the River Seine as the guest of mining heiress Gina Rinehart.

Australia’s richest person, who pours millions of dollars of sponsorship into swimming, rowing and volleyball, as well as the AOC, has also been Australia’s biggest fangirl at these Games.

Brandishing a stuffed boxing kangaroo, she’s been spotted in a corporate box at the La Defense Arena pool with Dawn Fraser or in the stifling heat at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium to watch the rowing.

She watched the opening ceremony from a VIP vantage point, wearing a plastic poncho on account of the rain, like the rest of us slobs.

Her cruise was just another example of her generosity – but it came with a couple of requests.

Beforehand, athletes were asked to wear a pair of gold boots from Rossi, the South Australian shoe company Rinehart acquired last year, as well as shirts bearing the AOC emblem and her cattle empire’s clothing brand, S. Kidman.

Australian swimmers (from left) Lani Pallister, Mollie O’Callaghan, Jamie Perkins, Meg Harris and Jenna Strauch arrive for the river cruise.Credit: Zoe Samios

Every athlete wore the boots, but fewer wore the white-collared shirts.

A group of can-can dancers were on the wharf to greet guests, including AOC chair Ian Chesterman and chief executive Matt Carroll.

Wearing an all-white outfit that included a glittering, full-length cape, Rinehart was first to her own party so she could welcome her beloved athletes, including swimmers Ariarne Titmus, Kyle Chalmers, Elijah Winnington and Mollie O’Callaghan, and cycling gold medallist Grace Brown.

Rinehart had promised for months to take medal winners from the sports she sponsors on the cruise but broadened it to all medal winners.

Notable absentees included swimmers Kaylee McKeown, Cam McEvoy and Emma McKeon, who preferred to spend the evening with swimmer-musician boyfriend Cody Simpson.

Gina Rinehart entertains medal-winning Australians on the Seine.Credit: Zoe Samios

Inside, guests were greeted with enlarged front pages from The Courier-Mail from the past week or so plastered on the walls, before they were treated to sumptuous food from French chef Alain Ducasse, who owns the boat, as they sailed past landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, with the sun sinking in the distance.

You just needed a medal to get on the boat.

Golden boots, golden ticket.Credit: Zoe Samios

Several sources within the swimming team and Australian team in general said the cruise had bemused some athletes, claiming it was “elitist” to celebrate the medal winners with an exclusive party.

Nevertheless, you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who will criticise Rinehart publicly. Athletes have been effusive in their praise of “Mrs Rinehart” after every event.

Rinehart is known to ask a lot of some administrators of the sports she sponsors, but you can’t dispute the importance of her financial kindness, nor their gratitude.

Funding remains a vexed issue for sports that struggle to compete with the football codes and cricket for broadcast and sponsorship dollars.

Sydney 2000 bid chief Rod McGeoch flagged the idea earlier this week of a national sports lottery system, which has funded sport in Great Britain since 1994.

“Not every sport has a Gina Rinehart,” he told News Corp.

If you’re a second- or third-tier sport, you need to find your Rinehart, although sometimes they find you.

After beating Australia to claim bronze in the women’s sevens, the USA team received a $4 million donation from Korean-American businesswoman and philanthropist Michele Kang.

Rapper Flavor Flav has dipped into his pocket to support the US women’s water polo team.Credit: AP

As discussed in this space before, Public Enemy rapper Flavor Flav funds the USA’s women’s water polo team after reading a social media post from their captain lamenting a lack of funding.

Swimmers up to Speedo on the town

Australia’s swimmers celebrated the end of their meet with the same vigour and passion they displayed in the pool. Some didn’t get home until 7am.

Those who turned up to a Speedo event on the rooftop at Hotel Dame des Arts on Monday afternoon were worse for wear. Some turned up late. Some didn’t turn up at all.

None seemed overly keen to sip the free champagne on offer.

Props to head coach Rohan Taylor, who celebrated the end of a long campaign as hard as his swimmers, for turning up to an 8.30am media conference at the Main Press Centre.

Aussies kept off the sick list

The AOC is often the bureaucratic punching bag when things aren’t going well at the Olympics, but the organisation’s devotion to high performance is being credited for our high position on the medal tally.

Australian triathlete Sophie Linn makes it out of the Seine without getting sick.Credit: Getty

Taylor acknowledged this on Monday, but there can be no greater example than what’s happening to competitors from other countries who have swum in the Seine.

Belgian triathlete Claire Michel was taken to hospital after being infected with E. coli. She has been withdrawn from the team’s mixed relay event, while other competitors have had very public vomits after crossing the finishing line.

It makes you wonder what will happen later in the week with the 10-kilometre swim. The swim leg of the triathlon is 1.5 kilometres.

No Australian athlete has fallen ill, though.

The AOC envisaged this issue months ago and has ensured those who must swim in the Seine’s murky waters have eye, mouth, nose and ear wash, as well as antibiotics.

Boxing officials on the ropes

Is anyone surprised that the International Boxing Association’s media conference in Paris to explain the failed gender eligibility tests of female boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting descended into farce?

It turned into a four-hour marathon of sidestepping, yelling and technical glitches. The conference was effectively hijacked by the organisation’s president, Umar Kremlev, who went on a never-ending rant about IOC counterpart Thomas Bach.

International Boxing Association officials turned a press conference into a four-hour farce of yelling and sidestepping.Credit: Michael Chammas

“Guys, you are wasting our time, my god!” a German reporter shouted.

IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said in an email to Time: “It was a chaotic farce. The organisation and the content of this press conference tells you everything you need to know about their governance and credibility.”

Dr Ioannis Filippatos, the IBA’s former chief medical officer, was adamant that the testing done at the 2023 world championships had proved the pair were born with XY chromosomes and elevated levels of testosterone.

THE QUOTE

“They’re so rude. Oh, they’re really up themselves. They’re pompous. They do a good burger, though. I do like the burgers and stuff over here.” — Channel Nine’s Karl Stefanovic rips into the French on the Kyle and Jackie O Show. I wonder if he was referring to Le Big Mac or a Royale with Cheese?

THUMBS UP

Pure joy at Vaires-sur-Marne with Noémie Fox winning her first gold medal in kayak cross, a batshit crazy discipline best described as a street fight on whitewater making its Olympic debut in Paris. Fox’s double gold medal-winner sister Jess and mother Myriam dived into the water to congratulate her. Remember, Jess won in Tokyo when canoe slalom was contested for the first time.

Jess Fox jumps into the water to celebrate with her sister Noemie.Credit: AP

THUMBS DOWN

We wuz robbed! The Hockeyroos have been eliminated in controversial circumstances, losing 3-2 to China in the quarter-finals. China’s third goal came after the ball appeared to strike one of their players, while Australia had a penalty corner overturned in the final moments. Retiring captain Jane Claxton described the refereeing as “strange and worrying”.

It’s a big day in Paris for … the teams competing for medals in the 3x3 basketball. No Australia, but if France wins the men’s event, a heaving Place de la Concorde will be the place to be.

It’s an even bigger day in Paris for … Norwegian middle-distance runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who mocked his opponents in the heats of the men’s 1500m by dropping 20 metres behind the field at one point. The defending champion’s biggest threat is Great Britain’s Josh Kerr, who said of the final: “They should just be expecting one of the most vicious and hardest 1500s the sport’s seen in a very long time. I’m ready to go after it. I think we all are.”

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