Lucky Emma McKeon, Kyle Chalmers and their teammates have been dominating at the world championships, because Swimming Australia are in a world of hurt thanks to legal and financial troubles.
The sport’s governing body in Australia has faced controversy after controversy over the past decade, and despite things finally turning around big time in the pool, there are struggles out of it.
Even accounting for the fact they’ve been able to host the world swimming championships for the first time in 15 years.
Dan Andrews’ Victorian government shelled out $9.1million, at the cost of the taxpayer, to bring the tournament to Melbourne – and Swimming Australia will be able to pocket the profits, according to News Corp.
Madison Wilson, Chelsea Hodges, Mollie O’Callaghan and Emma McKeon with their 4x50m Medley Relay Gold Medals: but will their success in the pool be enough to propel Swimming Australia to success?
Unfortunately though, given the small crowds and the fact the event is not expected to make much money, it won’t make much of a dent in the bottom line a year after the organisations posted a $2.2million loss.
Swimming Australia is already set to undertake an independent reviews after receiving a number of formal and informal complaints from figures across the sport, including state organisations, coaches and the athletes themselves.
CEO Eugenie Buckley is under immense pressure over her behaviour and relationships with all manner of stakeholders across the sport, including a bizarre and aggressive press conference this week that led to Swimming Australia later apologising on her behalf.
But the problems don’t stop there.
Kyle Chalmers has been dominant for Australia at the World Championships, including this win in the 100m freestyle – but Swimming Australia is still under huge pressure out of the pool
Ongoing legal issues will continue well into next year, according to the News Corp report, after Buckley pulled the organisation out of a deal with a new professional competition called the Australian Swimming League.
The league then lodged their litigation with the Victorian Supreme Court, and if successful it could cost Swimming Australia as much as $10million in damages.
That would be a dire blow with the organisation’s finances as it tries to recover from a poor 2021-22 financial year in which Gina Rinehart’s comapny Hancock Prospecting ended their long association with the sport in Australia.
While the swimmers star in the water, new president Michelle Gallen is under no illusions that there are still struggles ahead despite the Andrews Labor government spending a pretty penny to bring the tournament, originally scheduled to be in Russia, to Melbourne.
Emma McKeon, Chelsea Hodges and Mollie O’Callaghan had wide smiles as they celebrating winning the 4x50m Medley Relay on Saturday
A cute moment between Australia’s golden couple, as Cody Simpson hugs partner Emma McKeon after she won Gold in the 50m freestyle
Swimming Australia weren’t even aware Victoria was making a pitch to host the championships that were taken away from Russia due to Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasions until the deal was signed.
It won’t completely dig them out of the financial hole, but it will no doubt help a great deal.
‘Visit Victoria, essentially they are sponsoring the event so they don’t stand to gain anything from its success, except obviously visitor nights and bed nights and the showcasing of Melbourne,’ Gallen told Newscorp.
‘It’s not going to be a saviour for us, but it’s not going to be a bank breaker for us, either.’
Victorian taxpayers have spent a great deal on National sporting organisations this year.
Dan Andrews’ (picutred) Victorian Labor goverment spent $9million on bringing the world short-course swimming championships to Melbourne at the cost of the taxpayers
Andrews proudly announced his state government was stepping in with $15million after Netball Australia’s sponsorship fiasco that saw Rinehart furiously withdraw her funding over the now-infamous racism scandal that started with her father 38 years prior.
Visit Victoria has now splashed another $9million on bringing the world championships to the Melbourne Sports Centre, despite the event not pulling huge crowds from around the world.
That amount includes ticketing, marketing, securing the deal and content – with the tourism body then hoping for exposure of the state and visitors will help offset the amount.
A spokesperson for Andrews’ Labor government said they were very pleased to have nabbed the tournament.
Kyle Chalmers celebrates with a fist pump after winning the 100m freestyle final
‘The FINA World Short Course Championships continues a stellar year for Victoria’s major events calendar and all eyes will be on Melbourne as we host some of the biggest names in world swimming,’ said the spokesperson.
‘This event strengthens our reputation for hosting major international sporting events.’
That will matter little to McKeon and Chalmers – neither of whom are Victorian residents or taxpayers – who have utterly dominated the tournament.
The championships will conclude on Sunday night with events such as the 4×100 Medley Relay, 200m freestyle and breaststroke and backstroke events to conclude the proceedings.
Australia have 23 medals (11 Gold) to sit second on the table behind America (13 Gold, 28 total).
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