The Mexican artistic swimming team has won a lawsuit that will see its scholarships reinstated after funding cuts put many of the country’s aquatic athletes in limbo.
The team sued the National Commission of Physical Culture and Sport (CONADE) after it withdrew scholarships to aquatic athletes in January, which came in the wake of World Aquatics implementing a Stabilization Committee to run the Mexican Swimming Federation (FMN). That came due to World Aquatics opening an investigation into ex-FMN president Kirill Todorov.
A judge ruled in favor of the artistic swimming team on Tuesday, and CONADE will have three days to reinstate the scholarship payments.
The team reportedly had to sell suits and towels to pay for their Olympic participation, according to Reuters.
“The resolution that was given is the definitive suspension that is granted to the athletes and that gives CONADE three days to inform the judge that they are already reinstating the payment of the scholarships,” the swimmers’ lawyer, Luis Jimenez, told Mexican outlet Milenio.
The artistic swimming team filed a collective injunction against CONADE after their financial support was withdrawn without any notice.
“In this case there was never a reason or justification to take away the scholarships,” added Jimenez, who said Tuesday that they were still awaiting a final ruling on the payments that have not been made since January.
The funding cuts from CONADE also resulted in Mexican Olympic diver Diego Balleza turning to OnlyFans to finance his career.
Mexico’s artistic swimming team won three gold medals at the latest World Aquatics World Series event last month in Egypt, and had six top-eight finishes at the 2022 World Championships, including placing fourth in the Highlight Routine event.