Swim league: Fina’s days numbered

INTERNATIONAL Swimming League (ISL) Financer Konstantin Grigorishin has suggested the “day of the sports governing body is coming to an end”and has called for swimmers to accept nothing less than 50 percent of revenues from competition organizers.

The Ukrainian made the assertion at a two-day summit held by the ISL at the home of Chelsea Football Club in London, which was billed as an opportunity for more than 30 of the world’s best swimmers to hear from experts in law, labor relations and business.

Discussions, it is claimed, explained the steps athletes can take to turn swimming into a “professional sport with regular wages.”

Increased rights and ensuring they receive a “fair share of revenues generated by governing bodies at world and Olympic level” was also discussed.

Athletes are claimed to be contemplating the establishment of a Professional Swimmers Association, which would aid efforts to withdraw from competitions in which they do not believe they are receiving a fair share of revenues.

It will also allow them to consult with other athletes over issues including image rights and race formats, it is claimed.

The summit was held amid increasing tensions between the ISL and the International Swimming Federation (Fina) in recent weeks, after the latter refused to sanction an ISL competition in Italy.

The competition, which the ISL claim was due to be a test event for their professional team format, would have featured eight international clubs each made up of 12 male and 12 female swimmers.

They were due to compete over two days of races across all swimming events in a short-course pool, where the four teams which gained the most points would progress to a grand Final over the following two days.

It was canceled when Fina warned any swimmers who took part would face bans.

Fina defended their decision to refuse to sanction the event, asserting the request to hold it was made at “short notice.”

The ISL launched a class action lawsuit against Fina for allegedly violating anti-trust laws, with a second filed by Hungary’s Katinka Hosszú and American swimmers Michael Andrew and Tom Shields.

The ISL claim the organization do not want to be in conflict with the governing body, with Grigorishin asserting it was “not their intention to destroy Fina.”

He suggested that Fina could coexist with the ISL as a regulator of the sport, as he claimed the time of sports governing bodies was coming to an end.

“My personal opinion is that there was a time when governing bodies were very useful for sport and the development of sport,” he

told insidethegames.