In a shocking series of events, Hungary lost two of its greatest-ever water polo players in 24 hours. Both belonged to the elite club of three-times Olympic champions: Gyorgy Karpati, 85, was the last living member of the legendary team winning the title in Melbourne 1956 – he was also part of the 1952 and 1964 gold medallist sides. A left-handed icon of the 90s and the new millennium, winner in Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, Tibor Benedek was only 48 but a dreadful disease terminated his wonderful life way too soon.

Given the uncertainty related with the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, the safeguard of the athletes’ health and safety, and in accordance with the request of the UAE authorities, FINA has decided to re-schedule the upcoming edition of the FINA World Swimming Championships (25m), initially programmed to take place in December 2020 in Abu Dhabi.

The new dates of this competition are December 13-18, 2021, with the FINA World Aquatics Convention taking place also in Abu Dhabi, from December 10-12, 2021.

FINA learnt with great sadness about the loss of Coaracy Nunes Filho, from Brazil, who passed away at the age of 82 on May 14, 2020.

Mr Nunes Filho (a lawyer by profession) was a FINA Bureau Member from 2000 to 2017 and former President of the Brazilian Swimming Confederation (CBDA) from 1988, being successfully re-elected for that position on six occasions. He had been also a former President of UANA (the continental association in the Americas).

Following consultation with the city of Fukuoka, Japan Swimming Federation, organisers, athletes, coaches, technical committees, TV partners and sponsors, FINA is pleased to announce that the FINA World Championships in Fukuoka (JPN), initially scheduled for the summer of 2021, will now take place from May 13-29, 2022.

FINA welcomes the announcement of revised dates for Tokyo 2020 and the clarity they bring.

"Faced with the unprecedented need to reschedule the Olympic Games, our friends at the IOC and Tokyo 2020 have reacted with great speed and professionalism. To already know the dates is very helpful to federations and athletes everywhere. FINA would like to express its best wishes to all those who have committed themselves to making the aquatics competitions of Tokyo 2020 the great success that I know they will be," said FINA President Dr Julio C. Maglione. 

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads, FINA would like to reiterate its concern for all those affected. FINA is well aware of the issues faced by aquatics athletes around the world, especially with regard to training and pool access. 

A new report published this week has ranked FINA as the most improved International Federation (IF) on digital channels, following strong growth across its social media platforms in 2019. 

The 2020 #SportOnSocial League Table by Red Torch, which ranks IFs on their performance across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, revealed that FINA climbed 14 places to 10^th in the overall ranking. 

FINA informed today all 209 National Member Federations that its COVID-19 Taskforce, in consultation with the IOC and the Organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, decided to postpone the staging of the following qualifying/test events:

- FINA Diving World Cup - scheduled to take place in Tokyo (JPN), on April 21-26, 2020
- FINA Artistic Swimming Olympic Games Qualification Tournament - scheduled to take place in Tokyo (JPN), on April 30-May 3, 2020

Following the declaration of World Health Organisation that the current COVID-19 outbreak has now reached a worldwide pandemic status, the recently-created FINA Taskforce held its first meeting (by videoconference) to consider the impacts of the current situation with regard to the health of our athletes by assessing the risks of hosting forthcoming FINA competitions. A number of significant decisions were made to postpone or cancel events. FINA's overriding concern at this challenging time is to proactively safeguard the health of all event participants, and also to safeguard public health

In order to best protect the health and wellbeing of participants in international aquatics competitions, FINA has established a COVID-19 taskforce. Comprised of leading medical experts, the group will consider and assess the spread of COVID-19. It will consider the consequences of that spread for FINA events and efforts to safeguard participants both in terms of practical measures and communications.