FINA made the postponement of the 2022 World Championships official on Tuesday morning, announcing that the competition was being pushed back from May 2022 until July 2023 in Fukuoka, Japan.
Postponing was certainly something that FINA would avoid, if possible, at all costs. But under the circumstances, the international body for aquatic sports was essentially backed into a corner.
On one hand, FINA had a commitment to hold the 2021 World Championships in Fukuoka, and essentially locked that in when signing the contracts back in January 2016. That didn’t change when the meet was postponed until 2022 due to the Olympics being pushed back, and it was essentially an agreement FINA couldn’t get out of despite Japan requesting near-impossible restrictions to abide by in order for things to run as scheduled this year.
One of those requested restrictions was for everyone attending to undergo a 14-day quarantine upon arrival, with no access to facilities. This was essentially a non-starter, as it’s an unreasonable request for athletes to be expected to perform at the peak of their ability shortly after having no training access for two weeks.
As a result, due to the nature of the contract it signed and the restrictions put in place in Japan, FINA’s hands were essentially tied in postponing the meet until July 2023.
The gap between World Championship meets will now be double what is usually is, as there will now be a four-year break (2019 to 2023) compared to the traditional biennial schedule.
In order to squeeze in two Worlds meets in between the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, FINA will hold the previously-scheduled November 2023 World Championships in Doha, Qatar in January 2024. This will be just six months after the previous World Championships and six months prior to the start of the 2024 Olympic Games.
TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS & COVID NUMBERS
The Japanese government currently has a long list of nations barred from entering the country, which includes the United States and basically every other top swimming nation outside of Australia and China.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently said that travel bans aren’t effective in suppressing the international spread of COVID-19 and has called on them to be lifted.
Japan continues to see record infections of COVID-19, sparked by the Omicron variant, recording over 85,000 new cases on Monday, which is their highest level of the pandemic. That marks about 67 cases/100,000 residents, which is still one of the lowest levels among developed nations in the world.
Japan could do this all over again in 2023. At what point can Fina cancel the Fukuoka WCs? I can see a scenario where we continue to have postponements.
If they are so worried bout covid, maybe they could have hosted this years event this year, but just invited the worlds top 16 in each event to limit numbers…
I believe there is some kind of voting system where all the nations involved with FINA get a vote. I can’t imagine smaller nations voting for Worlds to go ahead where none of their swimmers would be invited.
Good point…I forgot the politics and thought about the athletes, silly me…:)
“no choice” is a great excuse for a week and outdated administration.
Congratulations FINA, every move you make makes it easier for the ISL to dominate our sport… we’re doomed!
True that… But offering a skinny check + boat ride and a couple free pizzas to some desperate swimmers seems to be enough lately
Look… FINA isn’t great. But I wouldn’t be holding ISL up as a well run swimming organisation lol.
what’s wrong with the ISL?
So what is the USA going to do with their International Team Trials?
Oh they had choices alright
So basically the Qatar worlds will not be the focus of many top level athletes, especially those that also have NCAA’s in their sights. Three high level meets (plus a trials meet) is likely too many in a 12 month period.
I can see lots of high level swimmers going to 2024 worlds without tapering for it. More racing experience is never a bad thing, and it would give them a good opportunity to fine tune for the Olympics. Several European countries did so this past year by not resting their Euros teams.
I can see lots of high level swimmers ignoring it altogether.
Of course Qatar will be the quaification for the relays….so it is not unimportant!
Some can qualify using time trials.
I think we can all agree that Japan should no longer be able to host major swim competitions…
It was probably a better option to move this years worlds to november instead. The previous schedule was going to have the 2023 worlds on november, It was probably better to have november this year and next year the july worlds as usual.
I agree in every regard but open water.
But if that means they need to host open water somewhere else…sobeit.