The FINA General Congress, held today in Doha (QAT), elected a new President and a new Bureau for the period 2021-2025. Husain Al Musallam, until now FINA’s First Vice-President, received 302 votes from the delegates representing 183 National Federations (with 108 attending the Congress on site and the remaining ones online). Representing Kuwait as an international swimmer in his youth, Al Musallam was an airline captain pilot and was first elected to the FINA Bureau in 1996.
The composition of the elected FINA
Bureau for the period 2021-2025, is as follows:
President: Husain Al Musallam (KUW)
First Vice-President: Sam Ramsamy
(RSA)
Second Vice-President: Matthew Dunn
(AUS)
Treasurer: Dale Neuburger (USA)
Vice-Presidents:
Paolo Barelli (ITA)
Zhou Jihong (CHN)
Juan Carlos Orihuela(PAR)
Members:
Zouheir El Moufti (MAR)
Donald Rukare (UGA)
Mohamed Diop (SEN)
Errol Clarke (BAR)
Cheryl Gibson (CAN)
Taha Al Kishry (OMA)
Andrey Kryukov (KAZ)
Fernando Carpena (ESP)
Dimitrios Diathesopoulos (GRE)
David Sparkes (GBR)
Doreen Tiborcz (MRI)
Algernon Cargill (BAH)
Veronica Stanham (URU)
Daichi Suzuki (JPN)
Virendra Nanavati (IND)
Romani Katoa (COK)
Antonio Jose da Silva (POR)
Erik van Heijningen (NED)
As per the FINA Constitution, the
Chair of the FINA Athletes Committee Penny Heyns is also a ex-officio member of
the Bureau, with voting right.
Finally, four other members were
co-opted for the Bureau, as representatives of countries holding upcoming
editions of FINA World Championships and Olympic Games: Khaleel Al Jabir (QAT),
Gilles Sezionale (FRA), Vladimir Salnikov (RUS) and Balasz Furjes (HUN).
Mr Al Musallam also proposed the
nomination of Dr Maglione as FINA Honorary Life President. The Congress
approved this proposal, and the immediate FINA President joins Mr Mustapha
Larfaoui, also FINA Honorary Life President (since 2009, after 21 years in the
FINA presidency).
The Congress also elected the FINA
Ethics Panel and FINA Audit Committee for the period 2021-2025. The composition
of these bodies is as follows:
Ethics Panel:
Jean Gay (SUI)
Abdon Deguenon (BEN)
Rashid Alanezi (KUW)
William J. Hybl (USA)
Raymond Hack (RSA)
Chris Fydler (AUS)
Audit Committee:
Jan Exner (CZE)
Debendranath Sarangi (IND)
Gustavo Mastroianni (URU)
The FINA Congress also approved all
the proposed changes related with changes in the Constitution, General Rules,
Code of Ethics, Facilities and Doping Control Rules.
Both the election of officials and rules
at the Congress were supervised by Swiss lawyer François Carrard.
Immediately after his election, Mr Al
Musallam made a short meeting of the new Bureau, and its first decisions were:
-Nomination of the new FINA Executive
Director, Mr Brent Nowicki (USA)
-Approval in the raise of prize money
for athletes in 2021 for a value of US$ 2.4 million
-The approval of the creation of a
Reform Committee (presided by François Carrard), and respective sub-committees
-The approval of Memorandum of
Understanding with four universities for a programme of education and training
for FINA athletes
-Confirmation of the By-Laws
establishing the procedure for the Athletes Committee election in May 2022
In his acceptance speech, at the end
of the Congress, the new FINA President stated: “Today is the start of an
exciting new journey for the Aquatic sports Family together, but for me it is
also the culmination of a lifetime's voyage that has brought me to this moment,
and the honour of being elected your President”, Mr Al Musallam considered.
Husain Al Musallam then listed the
priorities of his presidency: no discrimination, teamwork, reduction of
administration expenditure, additional financial support to National
Federations, and priority to athletes. “I am proud that FINA is the first
International Federation to introduce a By-law that protects Athletes' rights.
I am proud that 16 members of the new FINA Bureau are athletes who have
competed in the Olympic Games, World or Continental Championships. I am proud
that for the first time the FINA Executive has a female Vice-President, a great
diving champion. Starting at the next year's World Championships in Fukuoka, 20
active athletes will be elected to the Athletes Committee by the athletes
themselves. FINA will be the first International Federation to organise
democratic elections for active athletes”, added the new FINA President.
As a concrete example of his
engagement with athletes, Anthony Ervin (USA), Olympic champion in 2000 and
again in 2016, was invited to deliver some words to the delegates of the
Congress. “Reforms are needed and athletes deserve it. I believe FINA will
enter into a new era, and we all look forward to that”, said the US star.
On financial matters, the new FINA
President was clear: “I will lead by example, and today I make this promise: I
will take no payment, either through salary or other compensation, for any of
my work with FINA. All those of us who have the privilege of playing a role in
FINA's administration need to play our part. I plan to reduce per diems for
Bureau members by half. In the end we all will be beneficiaries, as we will see
the sport that we love continue to grow and flourish.”
At the end of his speech, Husain Al
Musallam made a vibrant tribute to his predecessor, Dr Julio C. Maglione (who
was distinguished with the FINA Prize at the end of the Congress), elected to
the presidency in 2009: “Dr Julio, you step down today with FINA firmly
established as one of the leading international sport Federations, and with
more Olympic medals than any other sport. You have been a great guardian of our
sport, and we thank you for all that you have done”, he concluded.
IOC President Thomas Bach also sent a
video message, highlighting the role and importance of Dr Maglione for the
Olympic movement: “During your presidency, FINA has achieved many successes and
is today a reference in the sports movement. We always valued your humanity and
friendship in everything you do. Please receive my warmest gratitude!”
The FINA General Congress was
attended by many sport personalities and distinguished authorities from the
Middle East: HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Qatar Olympic
Committee President (awarded with the FINA Order), HE Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad
Al-Sabah, Olympic Council of Asia President (who received the FINA Excellence
Award), HE Mr Jassim bin Rashid Al Buenain, Qatar Olympic Committee Secretary
General, Pere Miro, IOC Deputy Director General, Hassan Moustafa, International
Handball Federation President, and Vladimir Leonov, Minister of Sport of the
Republic of Tatarstan (Russia).
Fédération Internationale de Natation
(FINA)
The Fédération Internationale de
Natation, founded in 1908, is the governing body for aquatics worldwide. FINA's
five discipline Swimming, Open Water Swimming, Diving, Water Polo and Artistic
Swimming - are all included in the Olympic programme. High Diving made its
first appearance in FINA events at the 2013 FINA World Championships. FINA
counts 209 affiliated National Federations on the five continents and has its
headquarters in Lausanne (SUI).
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