| Fédération Internationale de Natation | |
|---|---|
Logo of FINA prior to 2008 |
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| Motto | Water is Our World |
| 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)[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.
On July 24, 2009, Dr. Julio Maglione of Uruguay was elected FINA President.[2]
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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, Dutchish, French, German, Hungarian and Swedish Swimming Federations.[3]
Number of national federations by year:
At the January 2010 FINA Bureau meeting, Tonga became the 202nd national federation of FINA.[4] 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.
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.[5] "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[6]). All Congress meetings are chaired by FINA's president.[5]
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.[7]
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).[8]
Each presidential term is four years, beginning and concluding with the year following the Summer Olympics (i.e., 2009-2013 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[9] | Mexico | 1968–1972 |
| Dr. Harold Henning | United States | 1972–1976 |
| Javier Ostos Mora (2nd term)[9] | 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) |
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.[10]
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.
In addition to the championships events listed above, FINA also organizes the following annual events, and sub-championships:
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