FINA announced the 20 members elected to its revamped Athletes’ Committee on Wednesday, with a ceremony taking place in Budapest during the 2022 World Aquatics Championships.
The committee features representatives from all six aquatics disciplines and FINA’s six regions, and is also split evenly between men and women.
Five-time Jamaican Olympic swimmer Alia Atkinson was elected as the Committee Chair, while British diver Jack Laugher was named Vice-Chair.
The elected members will serve for the 2022-2026 period.
ELECTED ATHLETES’ COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Committee Chair – Alia Atkinson (JAM)
Committee Vice-Chair – Jack Laugher (GBR)
Artistic Swimming
- Nehal Saafan (EGY)
- Bill May (USA)
Diving
- Maria Polyakova (RUS)
High Diving
- Anna Bader (GER)
- Alain Kohl (LUX)
Open Water
- Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA)
- Ferry Weertman (NED)
Swimming
- Therese Alshammar (SWE)
- Shane Ryan (IRL)
- Siobhan Haughey (HKG)
- Dmitriy Balandin (KAZ)
- Jessica Hansen (AUS)
- Ryan Pini (PNG)
- Jamila Nsibambi Lunkuse (UGA)
- Matthew Sates (RSA)
- Dylan Carter (TTO)
Water Polo
- Margarita Plevritou (GRE)
- Felipe Perrone Rocha (ESP)
Voting took place via electronic ballots for swimming (June 16-25) and diving, water polo, open water and artistic swimming (June 16-28), while high diving, not being contested in Budapest, was done via mail-in balloting.
The committee makeup is as follows:
- Ten (10) Swimming athletes, including one male athlete and one female athlete from each
Continent; - Two (2) Open Water Swimming athletes, including one male athlete and one female athlete;
- Two (2) Diving athletes, including one male athlete and one female athlete;
- Two (2) High Diving athletes, including one male athlete and one female athlete;
- Two (2) Artistic Swimming athletes, including one male athlete and one female athlete; and
- Two (2) Water Polo athletes, including one male athlete and one female athlete.
Some of the athletes were running unopposed, meaning that only seven of the 20 spots were elected by their peers.
Swimmers Shane Ryan, Dmitriy Balandin, Jessica Hansen, Ryan Pini, Lunkuse Jamila Nsimbambi, Matthew Sates and Atkinson were selected automatically. Also running unopposed was Greek water polo player Margarita Plevritou, artistic swimmers Saafan Nehal and Billy May, open water swimmer Ferry Weertman, and high divers Anna Bader and Alain Kohl.
The athletes elected in were swimmers Siobhan Haughey, Therese Alshammar and Dylan Carter, divers Laugher and Maria Polyakova, open water swimmer Ana Marcela Cunha and water polo player Felipe Perrone Rocha.
The committee’s purpose is to give the athletes more of a voice in the decision made by FINA.
“Athletes are the heartbeat of aquatics,” said FINA President Husain Al-Musallam. “There is no sport without athletes. This is why I am so proud to be part of these historic elections today.
“With equal gender representation and athletes from all six continents across all disciplines, I have no doubt that those elected will strengthen and promote the athletes’ voice for the benefit of the entire aquatics community.”
The Committee Chair, Atkinson, will act as an ex-officio member of the FINA Bureau to communicate athlete perspectives on a variety of matters.
“Today marks another significant step forward for both FINA and all aquatics athletes,” Atkinson said.
“The Athletes’ Committee will act as a critical link between athletes and FINA. Having the athlete community choose those who represent them in important decisions is critical for the future development of our beloved sport.”
Along with the 20 members elected, an additional six will be appointed by the FINA President, six more Honorary Members will also be appointed by the FINA President, and the two aquatic athletes who are members of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, Daniel Gyurta (Hungary) and Federica Pellegrini (Italy), will also be on the committee. That means a total of 34 athletes will be on the FINA Athletes’ Committee.
FINA’s previous Athletes’ Committee featured 16 members, with the biggest difference with this revamped version being that it features athletes elected by their peers.
The new committee also features members much closer to their competitive careers. They don’t need to be active, but must’ve competed at either the previous two World Championships, previous two Olympic Games, or the Worlds where the most-recent elections are conducted.