PR 98 - FINA Bureau Meeting - Doha 2014

Lausanne (SUI), November 28, 2014 - At the start of an intense two-week period of activities for FINA in Doha (QAT), the Bureau met on November 27-28 under the presidency of Dr. Julio C. Maglione, and the main decisions were:

-    Nomination of a new FINA Bureau Member, from Africa: Dr. Donald Rukare, from Uganda, who replaced Lino Lourenço (ANG), deceased earlier this year;

-    Approval of three new National Member Federations: GAB (Gabon), MAA (St-Maarten), and BIL (Belize). The total number of National Federations members of FINA is now of 207;

-    Appointment of a new FINA Athletes Committee member: Virginie Dedieu (FRA);

-    Reports of the Organising Committees of the 16th FINA World Championships Kazan (RUS) 2015, 13th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Windsor (CAN) 2016, and the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 were presented. For these three major events, an update on venues, athletes and teams accommodation and transportation, competition programmes, as well as Host Broadcasters’ information was provided. The Bureau registered with satisfaction the excellent status of preparation for these upcoming rendezvous;

-    Presentation of the competition programme for the FINA/MASTBANK Swimming World Cup for 2015, with the inclusion of an eighth leg to the circuit: France (city of Paris or Chartres). Others stops of the series include: Moscow (RUS), Singapore (SIN), Beijing (CHN), Tokyo (JPN), Hong Kong (HKG), Doha (QAT) and Dubai (UAE);

-    Presentation of a FINA World Calendar for the period 2015-2017;

-    Acknowledgement of the re-appointment of Member Matthew Dunn (AUS) to the WADA Athlete Standing Committee, starting on January 1, 2015;

-    Presentation of the new FINA Headquarters in Lausanne (SUI): after the conclusion of all the administrative procedure, the renovation works are ready to start, and FINA will most probably inaugurate its new headquarters in 2017.

The Aquatic Festival in Doha will include the FINA Extraordinary Congress on November 29, the 3rd FINA World Aquatics Convention on November 29-December 1, the 2nd FINA Swimming Coaches Golden Clinic on November 30-December 1, the 1st FINA Gala “Soirée des Etoiles” on December 1, and of course the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) on December 3-7. Moreover, and in parallel with this competition, FINA, in co-operation with Doha 2014, will hold a Youth Programme in Swimming.