International Swimming Federation
- See the Fina (disambiguation) 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 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.
History
FINA was founded on July 19 1908 in Manchester Hotel in London in the end of the 1908 Summer Olympics by the Belgian, British, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Swedish Swimming Federations.
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 | 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 |
Events
FINA currently organizes several events in all the disciplines it oversees.
FINA World 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.
FINA World Swimming Championships (25m)
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. In 2008 the event will be in Manchester, England.
Other
Other championship events sponsored by FINA include:
- Youth World Swimming Championships (bi-annual, first held in August 2006; 2008 is in Mexico)
- Junior Diving World Championships
- Open Water World Championships (2008 event is in Sevilla, Spain, and serves as the main qualifier for the 2008 Olympic 10K race)
- FINA World Masters Championships (bi-annual in even years--next is 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)
- Water Polo World League
- Marathon World Cup (Up through 2006, this comprised of races of 10-kilometers and longer. Beginning in 2007, the series was split with the "Open Water Grand Prix" for races over 10km, and the original name going to a series of 10km swims.)
See also
- World records in swimming
- Ligue Européenne de Natation (the European Swimming League).
- USA Swimming (USA's swimming federation).
External links
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International swimming
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| FINA World Championships |
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| Long Course (50 m) |
| 1973 | 1975 | 1978 |
1982 | 1986
| 1991 | 1994 | 1998 |
2001 | 2003
| 2005 | 2007 | 2009 |
2011 Men's swimming medalists | Women's swimming medalists |
| Short Course (25 m) |
| 1993 | 1995 | 1997 | 1999 | 2000 | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 | 2010 Men's medalists | Women's medalists |
| Youth (50m) |
| 2006 | 2008 |
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