Rebel league finally blows FINA out of water
THE instant success of swimming’s first rebel professional league has forced the sport’s much-maligned world governing body into finally listening to its top competitors.
It’s no secret that elite swimmers are fed up that the sport’s ruling body FINA rarely consults with them on the key issues of doping, prizemoney and event scheduling but the revolution that’s taking place has trickled into the corridors of power.
Relations hit rock-bottom this year when swimmers began a class-action lawsuit against FINA after it tried to block the creation of the International Swimming League (ISL), which promised to ban drug cheats, give competitors a 50 per cent share of revenues and allow them to choose the format for the new league.
Now FINA has caved in – announcing an increase in prizemoney at its own events and begun asking swimmers for feedback and advice on what they want.
“For the first time since I’ve done the (FINA) World Cup, there were members of the (FINA) Athletes Committee there,” Cate Campbell said.
“They’re going around and asking athletes’ opinions; what do you think about the scheduling? What do you think about the programming? Is the hotel, is the food up to the standard?
“That’s the first time I’ve seen it on a World Cup tour, granted that I haven’t done them consistently, but I think it’s definitely prompted more athlete input.”
FINA’s sudden new openness is a direct response to ISL, whose billionaire owner Konstantin Grigoroishin personally talks to swimmers to seek their advice.
He caught a train to Loughborough University on Wednesday and spent three hours listening to British Olympic and world champion Adam Peaty.
“That’s the kind of engagement you need,” Peaty said.
“If you look at FINA for example, not once have they ever reached out to me for an opinion on anything and for me that just tells you they don’t want the athlete’s input and they don’t want the athletes to grow with the governing body.”
South Africa’s double Olympic champion Penny Heyns, the head of FINA’s Athletes Commission, said FINA’s executives were now listening after seeing the early success of ISL.
“My message to the athletes is that we are now in a position as an Athletes Committee where a lot of changes have come about and that’s largely because of the support we’ve had on the executive level of the bureau,” she said.