Dan Andrews government spend $9MILLION on FINA world swimming championships for Melbourne

Lucky Emma McKeon, Kyle Chalmers and their teammates have been dominating at the world championships, because Swimming Australia is in a world of pain due to legal and financial issues.

The sport’s governing body in Australia has been faced with one controversy after another over the last decade and despite the fact that things finally turned around in a big way in the pool, there are struggles about it.

Even taking into account the fact that they have been able to host the world swimming championships for the first time in 15 years.

Dan Andrews’ Victorian government shelled out $9.1 million, at taxpayer expense, to bring the tournament to Melbourne, and Swimming Australia will be able to pocket the proceeds, according to news corporation.

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 thin crowds and the fact that the event isn’t expected to make much money, it won’t make much of a dent in the bottom line a year after the organizations posted a $2.2 million loss.

Swimming Australia is now ready for independent reviews after receiving a number of formal and informal complaints from figures across the sport, including state organisations, coaches and the athletes themselves.

Chief executive Eugenie Buckley is under immense pressure over her behavior and relationships with all sorts of stakeholders across the sport, including a bizarre and aggressive press conference this week that led to Swimming Australia later apologizing on her behalf.

But the problems do not 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 outside of the pool.

The ongoing legal troubles will continue well into next year, according to the News Corp report, after Buckley pulled the organization out of a deal with a new professional competition called the Australian Swimming League.

The league then brought its litigation to the High Court of Victoria and, if successful, could cost Swimming Australia up to $10 million in damages.

That would be a blow to the organization’s finances as it tries to recover from a poor 2021-22 financial year in which Gina Rinehart’s company, Hancock Prospecting, ended its long association with the sport in Australia.

While swimmers are the stars in the water, new chairwoman Michelle Gallen is under no illusions that there is still fighting ahead despite the fact that the Andrews Labor government spent a fair amount of money to bring the tournament, originally scheduled to Russia. , to Melbourne.

Emma McKeon, Chelsea Hodges and Mollie O’Callaghan all had big smiles as they celebrated winning the 4x50m medley relay on Saturday.

A cute moment between Australia’s golden couple, as Cody Simpson hugs his partner Emma McKeon after she won gold in the 50m freestyle.

Swimming Australia was not even aware that Victoria was making a pitch to host the championships that were wrested from Russia due to Vladimir Putin’s invasions of Ukraine until the deal was signed.

It won’t get you completely out of the financial hole, but it will certainly help a lot.

“Visit Victoria, they’re essentially sponsoring the event, so they’re not going to gain anything from their success, except obviously the visitor nights and the bed nights and the Melbourne showcase,” Gallen told Newscorp.

“It’s not going to be a savior for us, but it’s not going to be a deal breaker for us either.”

Victorian taxpayers have spent heavily on national sports organizations this year.

The Victorian Labor government of Dan Andrews (pictured) spent $9 million to bring the world short course swimming championships to Melbourne at taxpayer expense.

Andrews proudly announced that his state government would step in with $15 million after the Netball Australia sponsorship fiasco that saw Rinehart furiously withdraw his funding over the now infamous racism scandal that began with his father 38 years earlier.

Visit Victoria has now spent another $9 million to bring the world championships to the Melbourne Sports Centre, even though the event did not draw huge crowds from around the world.

That amount includes ticketing, marketing, securing treatment and content, and the tourism body expects exposure from the state and visitors to help offset the amount.

A spokesman for the Andrews Labor government said they were very pleased to have won the tournament.

Kyle Chalmers celebrates with a raised fist after winning the 100m freestyle final

“The FINA World Short Course Championships continues to be a stellar year for Victoria’s major event calendar and all eyes will be on Melbourne as we host some of the biggest names in world swimming,” said the spokesman.

‘This event strengthens our reputation as hosts of major international sporting events.’

That will matter little to McKeon and Chalmers, neither of whom are Victoria residents or contributors, who have completely 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 wrap up the proceedings.

Australia has 23 medals (11 gold) to rank second in the table behind the United States (13 gold, 28 total).