MELBOURNE (AP) — FINA, the federation which has run international swimming competitions for more than a century, is rebranding itself as World Aquatics ahead of the next Olympics in Paris in 2024.
That means leaving behind the French-language name of Fédération Internationale de Natation — International Swimming Federation. World Aquatics says the new brand is more inclusive of events such as diving, water polo and artistic swimming, all of which are overseen by the federation.
“More than 70% of the athletes that we have spoken with have said that they would like us to change FINA’s name. Many of them could not even tell us what the letters in FINA stand for,” World Aquatics president Husain Al-Musallam said.
The new name will be phased in gradually in 2023 before the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in July.
World Aquatics continues a trend toward shorter, simpler English-language names among the federations running international sports.
In track and field, the International Association of Athletics Federations rebranded as World Athletics in 2019. The former Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d’Aviron is now known as World Rowing and the International Rugby Board became World Rugby.