International Swimming Federation
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- See the disambiguation page for other meanings of FINA.
Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) – International Swimming Federation – is the International Federation (IF) recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competition in the aquatic sports. 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 oversees competition currently in five main areas: swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo and open water swimming championships.
The current President of FINA is Mustapha Larfaoui, of Algeria.
Contents |
[edit] List of presidents
| 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 | USA/Germany | 1960–1964 |
| William Berge Phillips | Australia | 1964–1968 |
| Javier Ostos | Mexico | 1968–1972 |
| Dr. Harold Henning | USA | 1972–1976 |
| Javier Ostos (2) | Mexico | 1976–1980 |
| Ante Lambasa | Yugoslavia | 1980–1984 |
| Robert Helmick | USA | 1984–1988 |
| Mustapha Larfaoui | Algeria | 1988–2009 |
[edit] Events
FINA currently organizes several events in all the disciplines it oversees.
The biggest FINA event is the now bi-annual World Championships, currently held every odd year. It features events in all 5 aquatic disciplines, and will next be 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.
The World Swimming Championship (25m), (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 Shanghai, China, in April 2006.
Other championship events sponsored by FINA include:
- Youth World Swimming Championships (bi-annual, first held in August 2006)
- Junior Diving World Championships
- Open Water World Championships
- Masters World Championships (bi-annual, latest event was held in August 2006 in Stanford, California)
Other than championships events, FINA also sponsors several annual series of events, typically one in each disciple. These include:
- Swimming World Cup (currently on hiatus for 2006-07)
- Diving Grand Prix (2006 features 8 meets and a Super Final, from February-September)
- Water Polo World League
- Marathon World Cup (2006's Cup features 19 races around the globe, from February through October, with races 10-kilometers and over)
[edit] See also
- Ligue Européenne de Natation (the European Swimming Federation).
- USA Swimming (USA's swimming federation).
[edit] External links
| FINA World Championships Diving, Swimming (open water/pool), Synchronised swimming & Water polo |
| Long Course (50 m) |
| 1973 | 1975 | 1978 | 1982 | 1986 | 1991 | 1994 | 1998 | 2001 | 2003 | 2005 | 2007 | 2009 | 2011 |
| Short Course (25 m) |
| 1993 | 1995 | 1997 | 1999 | 2000 | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 |
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