History & Stats » FINA (Federation Internationale de Natation)

The International Swimming Federation (FINA) was established on July the 19th 1908 in occasion of the fourth edition of the Olympic Games. Representatives of eight European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden and Hungary) met at the Manchester Hotel in London with the aim of unifying and standardising the rules of swimming, diving and water polo; establishing a list of world records, which could be supervised and updated; defining and enforcing the governing and organizing rules of the Olympic events in the three disciplines. Since then, the number of FINA's National Member Federations has constantly increased reaching a total of 193 in August 2006.

FINA constituted the organizing project of the first Long Course World Swimming Championships in 1973. Since then, over 11 editions, the Championships have extended to the other four aquatic disciplines.

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