World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA (French: Fédération internationale de natation; English: International Swimming Federation), is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in water sports. It is one of several international federations which administer a given sport or discipline for both the IOC and the international community. It is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Founded as FINA (Fédération internationale de natation; International Swimming Federation) in 1908, the federation was officially renamed World Aquatics in January 2023.
World Aquatics currently oversees competition in six aquatics sports:
swimming,
diving,
high diving,
artistic swimming, water polo, and open water swimming. World Aquatics also oversees Masters competition (for competitors aged 18 years and older) in its disciplines and also hosts the World Aquatics Masters Championships (for competitors aged 25 years and older).
History
FINA was founded on 19 July 1908 in the Manchester Hotel in London, at the end of the 1908 Summer Olympics. Eight national federations were responsible for the formation of FINA: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary and Sweden.
In 1973, the first World Aquatics Championships were staged in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, with competitions held in swimming, water polo, diving and synchronized swimming. Dr. Hal Henning, who had formerly served as Chair of the U.S. Olympic Swim Committee, was FINA's first American president from 1972 through 1976 where he was highly instrumental in starting the first World Aquatics Championships in Belgrade, and in retaining the number of swimming events in the Olympics which favored countries with larger, more balanced swim teams.
In 1986, the first permanent FINA office was opened in Lausanne, Switzerland.
In 1991, open water swimming was added to the program of the World Aquatics Championships.
In 1993, the first edition of the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25 m) was staged in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
In 2010, FINA convened the first edition of the FINA World Aquatics Convention in Punta del Este, Uruguay.
In 2013, high diving was added to the program of the World Aquatics Championships.
In 2015, FINA staged the first dual World Aquatics Championships and FINA World Masters Championships (later known as World Aquatics Masters Championships) in Kazan, Russia, run consecutively in the one city for the first time.
In 2018, FINA celebrated 110 years by inaugurating a new headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
On 12 December 2022, during the Extraordinary General Congress held in Melbourne, Australia, the Congress approved a new Constitution and voted to adopt a new name for the organisation, World Aquatics.
In July 2023, the World Aquatics General Congress approved the headquarters would be moving to Budapest, Hungary (host city of the 2017, 2022 and 2027 championships) was in the "final stage" of negotiations to move. The center is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2026, but the organization intends to move some of it to the Hungarian capital in the second half of next year. In November 2024, they opened their interim office before a full, complete transfer by 2027.
Number of national federations by year:
1908: 8
1928: 38
1958: 75
1978: 106
1988: 109
2000: 174
2008: 197
2010: 202
2012: 203
2015: 208
2016: 207
2017: 209
2023: 208
Members
In June 2017, Bhutan became the 208th national member federation of FINA (now World Aquatics); and on 30 November 2017, Anguilla became the 209th national member federation. As of 2025, São Tomé and Príncipe had become the 210th member federation. World Aquatics also permits athletes not affiliated with a member federation to compete at events under the "Athlete Refugee Team" banner. Athletes from Russia and Belarus are currently only allowed to compete as neutrals due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Members are grouped by continent, and there are 5 continental associations of which they can choose to be a member:
Africa (53): Africa Aquatics
Americas (45): PanAm Aquatics
Asia (45): Asia Aquatics
Europe (52): European Aquatics
Oceania (15): Oceania Aquatics
Note: The number following each continental name is the number of World Aquatics members which fall into the given geographical area. It is not necessarily the number of members in the continental association.
Organisation & Structure
Under the new World Aquatics Constitution, ratified in December 2022, under clause 12, the following bodies are established to govern and administer World Aquatics:
The Congress
The Bureau
The Executive
The Aquatics Integrity Unit
The Athletes Committee
The Technical Committees
The Specialised Committees
The World Aquatics Congress is the highest authority of World Aquatics and shall have the power to decide upon any matters arising within World Aquatics. A Congress is held either as an Ordinary Congress or as an Extraordinary Congress. A Congress may be held in person, by teleconference, by video conference or by another means of communication. Voting by correspondence (including email) and/or online is permitted. An Ordinary Congress shall be held every two years, in principle at the site and on the occasion of the World Championships or of another major World Aquatics event. An Extraordinary Congress shall be convened either by a decision of the Bureau or following a request in writing submitted to the Bureau by email by at least one fifth of the Members. Each Member shall be represented by up to two duly appointed delegates with voting rights. Each of the twenty elected members of the Athletes Committee shall have one vote at a Congress. The Honorary President is chair with no voting power. Continental Organisations can appoint up to two representatives who may attend the Congress as observers, without any voting power.
The World Aquatics Bureau consists of the President and thirty-nine Bureau Members:
President: The President is elected by the Congress.
Continental Representatives: Twenty-two Bureau Members are elected by the Congress as continental representatives distributed geographically and per gender as follows: Africa: five, with no more than three representatives of a single gender; America: five, with no more than three representatives of a single gender; Asia: five, with no more than three representatives of a single gender; Europe: five, with no more than three representatives of a single gender; and Oceania: two, with one of each gender. From these roles elected are five Vice Presidents, one from each of the five Continents, including the First Vice President and the Second Vice President; and the Treasurer.
World-at-Large Bureau Members: Sixteen additional Bureau Members are elected by the Congress as World-at-Large Bureau Members, distributed geographically and per gender as follows: Africa: three, with no more than two representatives of a single gender; America: four, with no more than three representatives of a single gender; Asia: four, with no more than three representatives of a single gender; Europe: four, with no more than three representatives of a single gender; and Oceania: one, female or male.
Athletes Committee: The Chair of the Athletes Committee is ex officio a Bureau Member.
Various committees and commissions also help with the oversight of individual disciplines (e.g. the Technical Open Water Swimming Committee helps with open water), or topic-related issues (e.g. the World Aquatics Doping Panel). The organization signed an agreement with the Hungarian government in May 2023, planning to relocate its headquarters from Switzerland to Budapest, Hungary. However, the World Aquatics Congress needs to approve unanimously in order for the relocation to be finalized.
Current bureau members
Presidents
Each presidential term is four years, beginning and concluding with the year following the Summer Olympics.