Radical plan for bootcamp with commercial spin-offs
THE rebel billionaire who took on swimming’s establishment and won is planning to run a groundbreaking bootcamp in Australia this year to revive the Olympic dreams of financially struggling athletes when the coronavirus lockdown finally ends.
The radical proposal is similar to the NRL’s idea of shipping players off to a remote island to play games in isolation – but with a couple of commercial spin-offs that could provide a blueprint for other Olympic sports to follow.
The basic details were announced in Europe overnight but News Corp can reveal swimming’s survivor island could be mainland Australia and the five-week camp will be open to the best 320 swimmers from all around the world, including Caeleb Dressel, Katie Ledecky and Adam Peaty.
The fiercest of rivals when they’re in the pool, the swimmers will all live, train and eat together with everything being filmed for a global reality documentary series, similar to cricket’s acclaimed fly-on-thewall series The Test.
High-stakes races will be held throughout the camp – which will be held from October 14-November 17, on the proviso that border restrictions are lifted by then – with swimmers competing for $8 million in prizemoney. “This is going to be a lifeline for swimmers …” Cate Campbell said. “No one has said it yet, but … the writing’s on the wall that funding cuts are going to happen and for a lot of swimmers on the cusp of representing their countries … that might mean they have to give up their dreams.
The innovative proposal is the brainchild of Konstantin Grigorshin, the Ukrainian energy tycoon who founded the breakaway International Swimming League after taking governing body FINA to court to challenge their monopoly on the sport.