Artistic Swimming Western Australia is delighted to confirm that Hancock Prospecting is providing funding directly to Senior National Team athletes for the 2022 FINA World Championships and beyond.
Financial support will also be provided to Artistic Swimming Australia’s national team program, benefitting athletes across all age groups.
The sponsorship comes with the exciting announcement that the Senior National Team will be setting up camp in Western Australia, with Perth set to become the new centralised training location for those aiming for Paris 2024.
The centralised training location in Perth aims to bring together athletes on the Senior National Team and provide them the support they need, both inside and outside the pool, to allow them to focus on excelling as athletes. Training in the same location all year around will allow for Australia to become more competitive on the world stage, with many highly ranked teams already proving this.
Through the Hancock Prospecting Sponsorship, internationally recognised coach Shoko Ono from Japan is currently in Perth, helping the High Performance athletes as well as training the stars of the future. Mrs Rinehart as Patron, has already met with her and welcomed her to her home. Mrs Rinehart is very grateful to her partner, Marubeni, for helping to arrange this outstanding coach to agree to come to Perth to train our prospective Olympians.
‘This is an extremely exciting time for Artistic Swimming both nationally and in WA,’ said Artistic Swimming Western Australia President, Nikki Eidne. ‘Besides Hockey, Artistic Swimming will be the only other sport to be centralised in WA. It is a massive step forward and the generosity and support provided by the Hancock Prospecting funding , and the continual enthusiastic support of our patron, Gina Rinehart A O will have such a positive impact, as it is truly a game changer for our sport.’
Mrs Rinehart and Hancock Prospecting have supported Artistic Swimming since 2014, being asked to help when the sport was in urgent need of support to continue to grow in Western Australia, and since then the support has been transformational to the sport.
‘Mrs Rinehart is an inspiring Australian who has demonstrated incredible generosity and provided many opportunities for our Olympic artistic swimmers,’ said Artistic Swimming Western Australia Board Member and Olympian, Hannah Cross. ‘She has always shown such genuine care for the athletes, and we feel very lucky to have her not only as our Patron, but also our supporter. She is a pleasure to work with.’
The announcement of this funding for artistic swimming comes hot on the heels of Hancock Prospecting partnering with the Australian Olympic Committee to sponsor the Australian Olympic Teams through to 2032.
2020 Olympian Alessandra Ho adds the following as to what this partnership means as she aims for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. ‘The team and I are so appreciative of Mrs Rinehart’s generosity and her tremendous support in enabling us to continue pursuing our dreams, we are very fortunate indeed to have her as our patron ’ she said.
