FINA

For other uses, see Fina (disambiguation).
FINA
Sport Swimming, Diving, Synchronized swimming, Water polo, Open water swimming
Jurisdiction International
Founded 19 July 1908 (1908-07-19)
Affiliation Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF)
Headquarters Lausanne, Switzerland
President Dr. Julio César Maglione
Official website
www.fina.org

FINA or Fédération internationale de natation[1] (English: International Swimming Federation) is the international federation recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)[2] for administering international competition in Aquatics. It is one of several international federations which administer a given sport/discipline for the IOC and/or international community. It is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.

FINA currently oversees competition in five aquatics sports: swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo and open water swimming.[3] Beginning in 2013, high diving is an emerging discipline within FINA. FINA also oversees "Masters" competition (for adults) in its disciplines.[3]

On 24 July 2009, Julio Maglione of Uruguay was elected FINA President.[4]

History

FINA was founded on 19 July 1908 in the Manchester Hotel in London, UK at the end of the 1908 Summer Olympics by the Belgian, British, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian and Swedish Swimming Federations.[5]

Number of national federations by year:

Members

Further information: List of FINA Member Federations

At the February 2015, FINA Bureau meeting, Kosovo became the 208th national federation of FINA.[7] Members are grouped by continent, and there are 5 continental associations of which they can choose to be a member:

Note: The number following each continental name is the number of FINA members which fall into the given geographical area. It is not necessarily the number of members in the continental association.

Organization

The FINA membership meets every four years, usually coinciding with the World Championships. There are two types of normal or "ordinary" congress: General and Technical. FINA’s highest authority is the General Congress. Any technical issues concerning FINA’s five aquatic disciplines are decided by the Technical Congress. Each Congress has two voting members from each Member federation, plus the following non-voting members: the 22 members of the Bureau, the Honorary Life President, and all Honorary Members. The Technical Congress has the following additional non-voting members: all members from the respective Technical Committees.[8] "Extraordinary" Congress are also called from time to time, to deal with a specific topic or area of concern (e.g. an Extraordinary Congress was held with the 2009 World Championships to review the Masters swimming rules; there was a General Congress at the 2009 Worlds[9]). All Congress meetings are chaired by FINA's president.[8]

Between Congress meetings of the entire membership, a smaller 22-member representative board, called the FINA Bureau, meets to act in a timely manner on items which cannot wait until the entire body can meet. It is the Bureau that elects the FINA Executive Officers.[10]

Various committees and commission also help with the oversight of individual disciplines (e.g. the Technical Open Water Swimming Committee helps with open water), or topic-related issues (e.g. the FINA Doping Panel).[11]

Presidents

Each presidential term is four years, beginning and concluding with the year following the Summer Olympics (i.e., 2013-2017 is the current term).

FINA Presidents
Name Country Term
George Hearn  Great Britain 1908–1924
Erik Bergvall  Sweden 1924–1928
Émile-Georges Drigny  France 1928–1932
Walther Binner  Germany 1932–1936
Harold Fern  Great Britain 1936–1948 (*)
Rene de Raeve  Belgium 1948–1952
M.L. Negri  Argentina 1952–1956
Jan de Vries  Netherlands 1956–1960
Max Ritter  Germany 1960–1964
William Berge Phillips  Australia 1964–1968
Javier Ostos Mora[12]  Mexico 1968–1972
Dr. Harold Henning  United States 1972–1976
Javier Ostos Mora (2nd term)[12]  Mexico 1976–1980
Ante Lambaša  Yugoslavia 1980–1984
Robert Helmick  United States 1984–1988
Mustapha Larfaoui  Algeria 1988–2009
Dr. Julio Maglione  Uruguay 2009–present
(re-elected in 2013)

Events

2008 FINA World Cup swimming at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre

FINA organizes one championship involving each of the five disciplines it oversees (the "World Championships"), as well championships and circuits in each of the disciplines.[13]

World Aquatics Championships

The biggest FINA event is the biennial World Aquatics Championships, currently held every odd year. It features competitions in all five aquatic disciplines. Prior to 2000, the event was held every 4 years, in the even year between (Summer) Olympic Games.

Discipline championships

Other events

In addition to the championships events listed above, FINA also organizes the following annual events, and sub-championships:

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Official name in French. See Overview page of FINA's Constitution (page visited on 11 April 2016).
  2. ↑ The International Olympic Committee online listing of the international federations.
  3. 1 2 FINA Sports page from the FINA website (www.fina.org); retrieved 2013-06-05.
  4. ↑ Report from/on the 2009 FINA General Congress held on 24 July 2009 and published by FINA on 2009-07-24. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  5. ↑ The National Federation page on the FINA website.
  6. ↑ http://www.fina.org/H2O/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5077:kosovo-is-the-208th-fina-member&catid=225:highlight&Itemid=179
  7. ↑ "Kosovo is the 208th FINA member". FINA. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  8. 1 2 Structure. FINA official website. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
  9. ↑ FINA calendar of upcoming meetings. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  10. ↑ FINA Bureau page of the FINA website.
  11. ↑ FINA Committee list
  12. 1 2 FINA Honorary Life President Lic. Javier Ostos Mora passes away at 92. Published 2008-11-07 by FINA. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  13. ↑ FINA Media Kit for the 2010 FINA World Aquatics Convention; published by FINA on 2010-02-22; retrieved 2010-02-25. (The listing and structure of the "Events" section is based on the event listing in this packet.)

External links

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