World Aquatics

For other uses, see Fina (disambiguation).

Fédération Internationale de Natation

Formation	1908
Headquarters	Lausanne, Switzerland
Membership	202 national federations
President	Dr. Julio César Maglione
Website	www.fina.org

Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) is the International Federation (IF) recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competition in the aquatic sports (its name translated from French is "International Swimming Federation"). It is one of several IFs which administers a given sport/discipline for the IOC and/or international community. It is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.

FINA currently oversees competition in five aquatic sports: swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo and open water swimming.

On July 24, 2009, Dr. Julio Maglione of Uruguay was elected FINA President.

History

FINA was founded on July 19, 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.

Number of national federations by year:

• 1908: 8
• 1928: 38
• 1958: 75
• 1978: 106
• 1988: 109
• 2000: 174
• 2008: 197

Members

At the January 2010 FINA Bureau meeting, Tonga became the 202nd National Federation of FINA. Members are grouped by continent, and there are 5 continental associations of which they can choose to be a member:

• Africa (51): African Swimming Confederation (CANA)
• Americas (41): Swimming Union of the Americas (ASUA)
• Asia (43): Asian Amateur Swimming Federation (AASF)
• Europe (51): European Swimming League (LEN)
• Oceania (16): Oceania Swimming Association (OSA)

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 roughly every two years in a regularly scheduled Congress; typically coinciding with the World Championships. Congresses are held to determine the direction the body would like to take. There are two types of normal or "ordinary" Congress: General and Technical, and these are normally alternated. "Extraordinary" Congress are also called-up from time to time, and 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).

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.

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).

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	Mexico	1968–1972
Dr. Harold Henning	United States	1972–1976
Javier Ostos Mora (2nd term)	Mexico	1976–1980
Ante Lambasa	Yugoslavia	1980–1984
Robert Helmick	United States	1984–1988
Mustapha Larfaoui	Algeria	1988–2009
Dr. Julio Maglione	Uruguay	2009–present (term is through 2013)

Presidential terms are four-years long, beginning and concluding with the year following the Olympics (i.e. 2009-2013 is the current term).

Events

FINA organizes one (1) championship involving each of the five disciplines it oversees (the "World Championships"), as well championships and circuits in each of the disciplines.

World Championships

Main article: FINA World Aquatics Championships

The biggest FINA event is the biennial World 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

• Swimming: World Swimming Championships (25m), (aka "Short Course Worlds"). Bi-annual event (in even years), swum in 25-meter length pool (Olympic and World Championships are in a 50m pool).
• Water Polo: Water Polo World Leagues (men's and women's).
• Diving: Diving World Series
• Open Water: World Open Water Swimming Championships (aka "Open Water Worlds"). Even years from 2000-2010.
• Synchronized Swimming: Synchronized Swimming World Trophy.
• Masters: World Masters Championships (aka "Masters Worlds"). Bi-annual, in even years. "Masters" competition is for adults (20 years old and up). This championships features all 5 disciplines.

Other events

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

• World Cups: Annual race/competition series of multiple meets/tournaments/races/competitions in swimming, water polo, diving, open water (10Ks) and synchronized swimming.
• Grand Prix: Annual race/competition series of multiple events in diving and open water (races over 10-kilometers).
• Junior Worlds: A world-level championships restricted to a younger age population (typically under-18, though can vary by discipline/gender). Held in swimming, water polo, diving, and synchronized swimming. Open Water is to begin one in 2012.
• World Men's Water Polo Development Trophy

See also

• List of international sport federations

External links

• fina.org - Official FINA website