FINA to Host Extraordinary Congress Meeting on June 19, 2022

During the 2022 World Championships, the FINA Extraordinary Congress will host a meeting on June 19th in Budapest.

On the agenda for this meeting are multiple addresses as well as reports by presidents and committees. This includes a report presented by the Transgender Taskforce.

One of the larger things on the agenda as well is the election for the Aquatics Integrity Unit (AQIU). The AQIU was approved to be created by the FINA Extraordinary Congress back on December 18th, 2021. Candidates had to submit their consideration for election by March 18 of this year. In total, there will be 23 members of the unit.

There will be seven members of the Supervisory Council including a chair, a vice chair, and five council members which include one male and one female athlete that have retired within the last eight years. There will be one chief ethics and compliance officer. There also will be five members of the Adjudicatory Body, five in the Investigatory Body, and five in the AntiDoping Advisory Body. Making up each five in those groups are a chair, vice chair, and three members.

The FINA Ethics Panel reviewed the candidates before April 18th.

• View the list of candidates for election here

The AQIU is set to plan throughout the rest of the 2022 calendar year and be operational by January 1st, 2023. The AQIU is set to replace the current FINA Judicial Panels which include the Doping Panel, the Ethics Panel, and the Disciplinary Panel. Each of those panels currently has six members with terms of four years.

Another big item on the agenda for the meeting is the signing of the ITA Agreement. The ITA is the International Testing Agency. FINA signed an agreement with the ITA back in 2018. Since the signing, the ITA has been in charge of out-of-competition doping tests.

Also expected to be proposed eventually in October is to include more males in artistic (formerly known as synchronized) swimming. The sport is typically a female sport, but in 2015 the mixed duo was released. There are hopes that the mixed category is included in the 2028 Olympic Games. The idea is that there is the goal of having a maximum of two boys included in either the team, combo, or highlights in the next World Championships in Fukuoka 2023.