FINA has bumped Switzerland from its previously-confirmed Olympic spot in the mixed 400 medley relay, and the National Aquatics Federation is not happy.
May 31 marked the final day that countries could register times eligible to qualify for the four wildcard spots available at the 2021 Olympic Games, with the first 12 slots awarded based on performance at the 2019 World Championships.
On June 5, FINA informed the Swiss that they had added two relays to their Tokyo lineup—having already qualified in the women’s 400 medley and men’s 800 free—with the country’s performances at the European Championships earning them berths in the men’s 400 free and mixed 400 medley relays.
However, FINA’s rankings mysteriously omitted times posted by Greece at the Akropolis Swimming Grand Prix in Athens on May 30, which, by all accounts, were official.
The Greeks swam a time of 3:45.38 in the mixed 400 medley relay, which would bump Switzerland (3:46.16) out of the final wildcard position in the event and out of the event at the Olympics.
Similarly, Greece’s time of 3:34.61 in the men’s 400 medley relay at the same meet would have bumped Ireland (3:34.62) for the last wildcard spot in that event.
As it turns out, the reason for Greece’s omission was “technical issues in the FINA results database,” and FINA has rescinded both relay entries for Switzerland in the mixed medley and Ireland in the men’s medley.
The Swiss Aquatics Federation has told SwimSwam that on June 7, FINA informed them that they won’t receive the mixed medley relay spot due to said technical issues, and that they will coordinate with the Swiss National Olympic Committee “and examine our options.”
“In principle, we question the decision and demand complete clarification and full transparency,” the federation said.
In a similar vein, Swim Ireland has said they will challenge the decision by FINA and will explore all options.
FINA is “looking into the matter internally,” so we’ll have to wait and see whether it allows 17-team fields in the two events, or if Switzerland and Ireland will be left on the outside looking in. While the Swiss still have three relay events confirmed, the Irish only have one – the men’s 800 free relay.
The list above is not final, with teams having until June 11 to confirm Tokyo participation.
FINA lmfao
Call me reactionary as much as you want but mixed relays should have never been added to world championships and olympic games. Sorry but I just don’t see the interest of these events. Same remark in athletics. It just gives US swimmers and USA overall the opportunity of winning more gold medals pretty easily. And then ignorant people will compare the total of medals won by a swimmer without ever mentioning that there are 2 more relays at worlds and 1 more relay at olympic games than during the MP era for example. And it can be worse. They also could add the 50s of stroke at olympic games in the future. It would be a terrible idea.
On the contrary I’m for adding as much as possible to the Olympic schedule. Bring on the doggie paddle!
I agree with your comments on the mixed relays, but would gladly have all 50m s rather than giving extra opportunities and medals to long distance freestyle swimmers. Choose one out of 400, 800 or 1500, just possibly 2 (400 and 1500), but certainly not three.
So you’d rather give extra medals to sprinters instead? Why favor one over the other?
Currently, there is more diversity and more competition in the 50s, especially outside free style; – although the question is whether that situation would continue if it were an Olympic sport; it could indeed result in less competition.
I dont like medal inflation….like you say the US (and usually Australia) just gets to pocket more medals.
I think the mix medley is one of the most fun events to watch and it certainly helps smaller countries who now only need to field 2 good men and 2 good women, a significantly easier thing to do that field 4 good swimmers of the same gender. I’m not a fan of the mixed free (the freestylers have enough events already and it’s boring to watch). The mixed medley is genuinely a blast to watch all the crazy strategies.
I hate it. It severely diminishes women’s swimming. It’s awful optics.
It was Pan Pacs 2018 when Kathleen Baker had just sent the WR in the 100Bk. She led off the USA’s relay, and to see the women’s WR holder THAT far behind the men brought about an audible gasp by a few I was around (some bigger wigs who were witnessing that event at that level for the first time in-person).
Seems odd to have two relays barely make it right at the cutoff. I need to see the race videos to believe it or some corroborating splits that are believable
https://youtu.be/qn2V5c4tCXk
I had my doubts but the 400 medley relay was legit. Race starts at the 6:10 minute mark. Bummed for Ireland as a former Irish international swimmer.
They probably planned their meet to be then. It makes sense, they then get a goal time to chase while the other qualifiers prior had no idea the exact time it would take to qualify. Either that or they’re really good at CGI.
The actual issue here is FINA, the governing body of Swimming, has a shitting and incomplete database of the top swims in the world. Seriously, the amount of short course times that have found their way into the long course rankings, or just plainly omitted swims there is astounding.
This is the first time I’ve seen it balloon into a issue with qualification for a major sporting event but it was only a matter of time. Pathetic
I posted this under the ‘Greek officials do not know why relays are not in ‘ thred elsewhere, i repeat it here…
FINA has a history of strange decicions concerning the greek and swiss team (and more….).
For the Rio Olympics, one greek woman qualified with an A-cut for the olympics, yet, FINA still invited the second Greek girl to take part, even though she only had a B-Cut. Switzerland meanwhile send the question to FINA why their butterflier was not invited, when she was clearly the first girl eligible to be invited according to Fina rules and Fina claimed that in every event one swimmer was invited.
After some time and several more inquieries, FINA finally acted… Read more »
I think they (and the Irish) are right to demand full transparency. But maybe “softly softly” would get better results here.
Neutrals could say that a team invited cannot reasonably be uninvited when the fault is FINAs. So the Irish and Swiss need to talk tough but are hopefully pushing at an open door. In the circumstances, 17 teams seem reasonable.
Obviously nobody at FINA reads swimswam or they would have needed the database
But… someone from Switzerland/Ireland must have been aware they’d been bumped out of the spot and questioned it too? It’s really disappointing for those teams, and while we should be able to rely on our governing body to get this right (ha!), surely those teams knew they hadn’t qualified by right?
All they knew is that they had done all they could do and await confirmation from FINA. They were probably aware that the Greeks had done better but that in itself does not equate to being “bumped”.
The Greeks, Irish or Swiss cant decide whether they have qualified…thats what FINA is for.
On paper yes possibly, but they wouldn’t be privy to teams opting out of their spots which could still happen until the 11th. So if it was me I would have assumed that is what took place and happily accepted the spot, as they did.