Libby Lenton suffered a double blow this week. Not only did FINA decide against to ratifying her world-record-breaking 100m freestyle, now Swimming Australia has decided that she won’t get the Aus $20,000 put up for any world-best times.
Lenton became the first female to break 53 seconds in her lead-off swim in a mixed 4 x 100m freestyle relay. Swimming head-to-head with Michael Phelps at the Duel in the Pool event, Lenton clocked a 52.99. FINA has refused to recognize the swim saying that the mixed relay is not an official FINA event.
Fujitsu, who sponsored the Duel in the Pool, said earlier this week that Lenton broken the record “fair dinkum” but that the decision to pay the Aus $20k prize money for notching a word-best time was in the hands of Swimming Australia.
However, Swimming Australia’s chief executive Glenn Tasker said that the money is not available and that the organization made a loss of Aus $150-200k.
“If you take all of the expenses of the meet — the pool, the security, the catering — the money we got from the sponsors doesn’t cover the cost of the meet.
“There are no dollars left. I don’t have the money.”
Tasker confirmed that Swimming Australia had been prepared to spend its own $20k, if FINA had ratified the swim as a world record. However, any chance of Lenton receiving the money left when FINA made its ruling.