Cool company wins manufacturing award

Written on the 8 August 2024

A Gold Coast company that is helping athletes win gold at the Paris Olympics has won its own winners’ trophy at the Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards.

The Southport-headquartered iCoolsport Australia, is a global 'pioneer' in ice-bath technology, has won the Manufacturing category for the Excellence Awards for July.

iCoolsports Australia Managing director Craig Cook said the company’s ice baths were now being used at the Paris Olympics and they were already working on plans to showcase their products at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

The business had its beginnings in 2004 when sports medicine scientists at the Australian Institute of Sports and micro refrigeration experts teamed up to manufacture six fully automatic mobile ice bath systems for the Athens Olympics.

Mr Cook said the business had humble beginnings in his garage but had an expansive warehouse at Olympic Circuit accommodating iCool’s headquarters and manufacturing operations.

He said iCoolsport’s products have been used by teams, clubs, stadiums and individuals at every major sporting event including the 2024 Olympic Games.

“The company was a major supplier to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar where were supplied 144 pools and 50 machines,’’ he said.

“Around the world, more than one million people in more than 70 countries have used the products.”

After its award win, iCoolsports is now in the running to claim the Gold Coast Business of the Year title in November.

The July winners in the other categories of the Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards were:

• Mayor’s Innovation GC Award: AAC ID Solutions
• Education, Training and Employment Award: GeSS Education
• Emerging and Micro Business Award: Joe’s Deli
• Family Business Award: Morlife
• Retail, Wholesale and Distribution Award: The Herbal Connection
• Manufacturing Award: iCoolsport Australia
• Construction and Trades Award: YTB Plumbing
• Professions and Services Award: Oi Cosmetic Studio
• Health and Wellbeing Award: Rigs Recovery
• IT and Digital Business Award: BITS Technology Group
• Tourism, Hospitality and Events Award: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

The awards, now in their 29th year, aim to foster pride in the city’s business community and highlight its important as a business hub. Some of the city’s best-known companies can claim to have been winners.

The awards’ major sponsors include Village Roadshow, Neumann Steel, Neumann Contractors, Currumbin Minerals, Australian Retirement Trust, Experience Gold Coast, City of Gold Coast, Coraggio, Westpac, Harvey Norman Commercial Queensland, Optus Business Centre Gold Coast, Griffith University, Gold Coast Airport, Dreamweavers, and Southern Cross Austereo. The awards’ media sponsors include the Gold Coast Bulletin, 92.5 MMM and SeaFM 90.9.

The GCBEA’s major supporters include KPMG, Document Solutions Australia, Bloomtools, Consulting Hall and The Graphic Design Company.