International Swimming Federation
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 Logo of FINA prior to 2008 |
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| Motto | Water is Our World |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1908 |
| Headquarters | Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Membership | 201 member countries |
| President | Mustapha Larfaoui |
| Website | www.fina.org |
Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) is the International Federation (IF) recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)[1] 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.
The current President of FINA is Mustapha Larfaoui of Algeria.
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[edit] 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.[2]
Number of national federations by year:
- 1908: 8
- 1928: 38
- 1958: 75
- 1978: 106
- 1988: 109
- 2000: 174
- 2008: 197
[edit] Members
As of the March 14, 2009, there are 201 FINA Member Federations, with Djibouti and Chad being the most recently approved members.[3] Members are grouped by continent, and there are 5 continental associations of which they can choose to be a member:
- Asia (43): Asian Amateur Swimming Federation (AASF)
- Africa (45): African Swimming Confederation (CANA)
- Americas (40): Amateur Swimming Union of the Americas (ASUA)
- Europe (50): European Swimming League (LEN)
- Oceania (13): 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.
[edit] Organization
The FINA membership meets roughly every 2 years in regularly schedule 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 will be held with the 2009 World Championships to review the Masters swimming rules; there will also be a General Congress at the 2009 Worlds[4]).
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. The Bureau then elects the FINA Executive Officers.[5]
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).[6]
| FINA Presidents | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Country | Term |
| George Hearn |  United Kingdom |
1908–1924 |
| Erik Bergvall |  Sweden |
1924–1928 |
| Émile-Georges Drigny |  France |
1928–1932 |
| Walther Binner |  Germany |
1932–1936 |
| Harold Fern | United Kingdom |
1936–1948 (*) |
| Rene de Raeve | .svg){kind=small} 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[7] |  Mexico |
1968–1972 |
| Dr. Harold Henning |  United States |
1972–1976 |
| Javier Ostos Mora[7] (2nd term) | Mexico |
1976–1980 |
| Ante Lambasa |  Yugoslavia |
1980–1984 |
| Robert Helmick | United States |
1984–1988 |
| Mustapha Larfaoui |  Algeria |
1988–present |
[edit] Events
FINA currently organizes several events in all the disciplines it oversees.
[edit] World Aquatics Championships
The biggest FINA event is the now biennial World Championships, currently held every odd year. It features events in all five aquatic disciplines, and was most recently held in Melbourne, Australia, in March 2007. Prior to 2000, the event was held every 4 years, in the even year between Olympic (Summer) Games.
[edit] World Swimming Championships (25 m)
The World Swimming Championship (25 m), (aka "Short Course Worlds"), is a swimming-only meet, swum in 25-meter long pool. It is held bi-annually, in even-numbered years, and was most recently held in a temporary pool built in the MEN Arena, Manchester, United Kingdom in April 2008.
[edit] Other
Other championship events sponsored by FINA include:
- Youth World Swimming Championships (bi-annual, first held in August 2006; 2010 is in Perú)
- Junior Diving World Championships
- Open Water World Championships (annual)
- FINA World Masters Championships (bi-annual in even years--last held April 2008 in Perth, AUS)
- Synchronized Swimming Cup
FINA also sponsors several annual series of events, typically one in each discipline. These include:
- FINA Swimming World Cup, for 2007, features seven meets.
- Diving Grand Prix (2006 features 8 meets and a Super Final, from February-September)
- FINA Diving World Series
- Water Polo World League
- FINA Water Polo World Cup
- Marathon World Cup (Up through 2006, this was races 10 kilometers and longer. Beginning in 2007, the series was split with the "Open Water Grand Prix" for races over 10 km, and the original name going to a series of 10 km swims.)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The International Olympic Committee online listing of the International Federations.
- ^ The National Federation page on the FINA website.
- ^ Press Release 2009-21: FINA Bureau Meeting (a report on the March 12-14, 2009 FINA Bureau meeting). Published 2009-03-14; retrieved 2009-03-16.
- ^ FINA calendar of upcoming meetings. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
- ^ FINA Bureau page of the FINA website.
- ^ FINA Committee list
- ^ a b FINA Honorary Life President Lic. Javier Ostos Mora passes away at 92. Publised 2008-11-07 by FINA. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
[edit] External links
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