Seven was staring at a Comm Games disaster. Gina Rinehart may have saved the day

Seven was hit last month with the news that Australia’s most sought-after athlete, Gout Gout, had chosen to skip the Commonwealth Games to focus on the under-20 world championships, formerly known as the world junior championships, held in Oregon in August.

Seven will broadcast these championships, but losing Gout from the Commonwealth Games is a huge blow; especially since Nine, which owns this imprint, has chosen to prioritize Olympic content.

But Seven is privately backed by Rinehart’s desire to fund incentives for swimmers to compete in Glasgow.

The Commonwealth Games, which moved to Glasgow this year after the Victorian government pulled out of hosting, are also plagued by questions over the suitability of the game, with the 2026 schedule being reduced from 19 sports in Birmingham to 10 four years ago. Para events will also be held in Glasgow.

Swimming Australia’s dilemma centers on the importance of the quadrennial Pan Pacs event in the even years between the Summer Olympics. The 2022 event has been postponed to 2026 due to COVID-19.

The event features swimmers from Australia, the United States, Canada and Japan, and serves as the “benchmark event” for Swimming Australia’s athlete funding. The rivalry between Australia and the USA is more compelling from a broadcast perspective than the rivalry the Dolphins will face in the Commonwealth Games.

If a swimmer does well in Glasgow but performs poorly at the Pan Pacs a fortnight later (the swimming program at the Commonwealth Games ends on July 29) this risks affecting the following year’s funding.

Rinehart’s latest offer adds a new layer to the Dolphins’ planning; Many Australian swimmers want to benefit from the financial benefits of competing in Glasgow.

Many would still take part, but the sport’s biggest names now have a greater incentive to do so.

Rinehart funds swimmers directly, not through Swimming Australia, and has done so for several years. Bonuses were offered at the 2023 and 2025 world championships in Fukuoka and Singapore, as well as the 2024 Olympics in Paris. It also pays an annual fee to swimmers who meet certain requirements.

Ultimately, Swimming Australia’s high-performance staff will determine whether athletes can compete in both events, informed sources say. Although all the top swimmers will take part in Glasgow, the final decision will not be made until the end of the year.

But Rinehart’s medal incentives could encourage those with big programs to compete in as many events as possible in Glasgow.

This imprint revealed last year that Canadian star Summer McIntosh, widely regarded as the world’s best female swimmer, was preparing to skip the Commonwealth Games and focus on the Pan Pacs.

Kyle Chalmers, who has close ties to Rinehart, is expected to compete in Glasgow but is expected to skip the Pan Pacs due to parenting duties as his partner Ingeborg Løyning returns to competitive swimming.

Fellow Olympic gold medalists Mollie O’Callaghan, Kaylee McKeown, Cam McEvoy and Zac Stubblety-Cook are expected to compete at the Commonwealth Games.

One option being considered is for Australia’s leading swimmers to compete at the Commonwealth Games while still in heavy training before reaching top condition for the Pan Pacs to meet the Americans.

This also creates an interesting publication distinction.

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Nine will televise the Australian trials, which will be held in Sydney in June and double as qualifying events for both the Commonwealth Games and the Pan Pacs. But Nine will exclusively broadcast Pan Pacs as part of a long-term rights deal with Swimming Australia and the International Olympic Committee until Brisbane 2032.

It would not be in Nine’s interest to promote the Commonwealth Games and the channel would prefer to have Australia’s biggest names prioritize the Pan Pacs exclusively.

A spokesman for Rinehart, via Hancock Prospecting, declined to comment on the proposed incentives.