During its Bureau Meeting held today in Sanya (CHN), FINA approved a new programme directly aimed at supporting National Federations, through the distribution of up to 70% of the IOC TV revenue share. This project represents a total of US$ 21.5 million in the next four-year period, to assist FINA National Members in the development of their activities.

Called “FINA Aquatics Olympic Support”, the budget distributed under this project comes as an addition to the amount already available through FINA Development Programme – support for the participation in FINA events and prize money - and will be given on an equal share basis.

Therefore, each National Federation – participating at the FINA World Championships, FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) or FINA World Junior Championships - will be offered up to US$ 25,000 each year to assist in specific projects related to:

  • construction, refurbishment or maintenance of facilities;
  • purchase or hire of sports material equipment;
  • administration fees;
  • technology resources (website, online ranking, database);
  • technical support;
  • preparation and training of athletes, coaches and officials;
  • staging and participation at national and continental competitions;
  • talent-identification programmes.

FINA, through a dedicated Commission, will carefully study and approve the projects submitted by the National Federations in which the value, purpose, viability and quality of the proposals are assessed.

Considering the top position of FINA in the Olympic Movement, and the decisive contribution and support of our Members to this achievement, we think it’s fair to create a dedicated programme to support their activities and development in the five continents”, said FINA President Dr Julio C. Maglione.

Other highlights of the FINA Bureau meeting in Sanya (CHN) include:

  • The approval of FINA’s 209th member: Anguilla Amateur Swimming (AGU);
  • The organisation of a Water Polo Conference in the first half of 2018, to discuss and recommend new paths for increasing the popularity and improving the worldwide value of the first Olympic team sport;
  • Designation of host cities for the following competitions/events:
  • FINA Diving World Cup 2018 – June 5-10 in Wuhan (CHN)
  • FINA World Junior Diving Championships (& FINA Diving Youth Olympic Games Qualification Tournament) 2018 – July 23-29 in Kiev (UKR)
  • FINA Diving World Conference 2018 – 1-3 February in Chongqing (CHN)
  • FINA World Junior Open Water Swimming Championships 2018 – 7-9 September in Eilat (ISR)
  • Approval of the 2018 calendars for the FINA Marathon Swim World Series, FINA Diving World Series, FINA Diving Grand Prix, and FINA Artistic Swimming World Series;
  • Approval of updated By-Laws, namely referring to the recent changes in the Water Polo and Artistic Swimming format competitions starting at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games;
  • Update on ongoing initiatives under the FINA Development Programme, namely the “Swimming for All, Swimming for Life” project, the Scholarships for athletes, Development Centres, Coaches Certification, and the new E-Learning platform and National Aquatics Managers Programme.