First Swim for All, Swim for Life Clinic - social responsibility

Last week's Swimming for all, Swimming for Life Clinic in Bangkok, chaired by FINA Vice-President and IOC Member Sam Ramsamy, was a very fruitful and successful first edition.

High-profile speakers addressed key topics and discussions over the three-day rendezvous, which are all detailed in the text below.

Dual health benefits

A World Health Organization (WHO) global report on drowning of November 2014 said 372,000 people die each year due to drowning. As the guardians of aquatic sports, FINA could not face this reality without acting.

Addressing the delegates, FINA President Dr. Julio C. Maglione said: "Our federation is known for its memorable sporting events and its major stars in six disciplines across five continents and 207 federations but as the organisation responsible for aquatic sports we are also conscious of having a crucial social responsibility to all those who are not familiar with our great natural element, water."

Further speakers also added some important points.

FINA Vice-President Tamas Gyarfas spoke of ways to connect the inaugural World Aquatics Day on 1 July this summer with the Learn to Swim programmes.

"In some parts of the world it’s not just about engaging more children – it’s more about life saving," he said.

"World Aquatics Day is a great opportunity to raise awareness, too. This is a great way to connect the Swim for All programme and the World Aquatics Day – a winning combination to engage more youngsters and to prevent more and more little kids from drowning. FINA is here, we can offer our tools to answer the global challenges: we have our stars, we have the popularity of our sport, they can all help to make our world a better place."

FINA Bureau Member Dr. Margo Mountjoy talked about implementing Learn to Swim programmes.

She highlighted the dual health benefits, one being drowning prevention and the other promotion of physical activity.

Dr. Mountjoy put special emphasis on the fact that the vast majority of drownings are preventable, so prevention is the most important method of reducing the number. But swimming is also a fine tool to stay healthy as 60% of all global deaths can be attributed to non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, strokes, respiratory diseases and some cancers – almost all can be related to physical inactivity, which is fourth in the list of risk factors for death. This is responsible for 3.2 million deaths annually in the world.

Dr. Mountjoy also recalled that physical activity reduces the risk of a series of diseases by huge margins (e. g. heart disease by 40%, diabetes by 50%, colon cancer by 50%, high blood pressure by 50%).

Risks and ways of prevention

Helen Herbert from South Africa, a lifesaving expert, drew on WHO statistics which said children, males and individuals with increased access to water were most at risk of drowning.

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Spain, next stop of FINA Synchro World Series In the spotlight

Thirteen nations will participate in the fifth leg of the FINA Synchronised Swimming World Series 2017 that will be held in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in Canary Islands (ESP), from May 26-28.

92 swimmers from Australia, Austria, Belarus, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Ukraine will participate in the 2017 Spanish Open-Trofeo Infantas de España after competing in Paris (FRA), Taiyuan (CHN), Tokyo (JPN) and Toronto (CAN), the previous meets of the FINA Synchronised Swimming World Series.

The competition, which will be celebrated at the outdoor swimming pool of Club Natacion Metropole, will be composed of Technical routines (Solo, Mixed Duet, Duet and Team) and Free routines (Solo, Mixed Duet, Duet, Team, Combination and Highlight).

Spain is the only nation that will participate in every Technical and Free routine.

Ona Carbonell, who triumphed in the Solo event in Tokyo, will try to complete a successful performance at home. She is expected to join Paula Ramirez, to form the newest promising Spanish duet.

The young Spanish team, meanwhile, will try to take advantage of this international experience. They will face Australia, Austria, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Portugal and Ukraine.

Precisely, Ukrainian star Anna Voloshyna, who shined in Paris and Toronto, will be one of the main stars to watch for in Spain with her participation at eight events (Technical solo, duet and team and Free solo, duet, team, combo and highlight).

This time, Japan will present only its Mixed Duet formed by Atsushi Abe and Yui Adachi. Their opponents will be Berta Ferreras and Pau Ribes (ESP) and Amelie Ebert and Niklas Stopel (GER).

Competition schedule avaiable here

FINA Synchronised Swimming World Series 2017 Calendar

BP2017 launches national roadshow to promote the World Championships

The Budapest 2017 Organising Committee launched a promotional roadshow on May 19 aimed at promoting the upcoming 17th FINA World Championships.

The show will be stopping at five strategic places across the capital, as well as five other towns in the countryside, with a first show held at the Arena Plaza in Budapest from May 19-21.

The show features spectacular decor, exciting prize games and renowned athletes are taking part in the promotion.

On the occasion of the first show, Open water swimmer Eva Risztov presented the goodies available for anyone to try at the different stop throughout the campaign.

These games and gadgets include for instance a virtual high diving simulator which recreate the experience and feeling of standing on a 27m platform. The game takes players to the high diving venue of the 2017 World Championships with 3D images, noises and environmental effects.

The roadshow allows participants to take part in a swimming race with the help of Xbox Kinect. In the game, players compete with world class swimmers by simulating swimming movements and strokes as their virtual character executes them. There is dual player mode, as well, so players can also compete against each other.

Visitors may also test their knowledge about the World Championships with the help of a quiz, and they can discover what it is like to learn a series of synchronised swimming movements with this memory game-like test. Finally, the water polo simulation game allows players to test their velocity.

BP2017 roadshow stops

19-21 May 2017 Budapest, Arena Plaza

25-27 May 2017 Budapest, Danube Arena (Final 6)

28 May 2017 Budapest, Budapest Family Summit – Family Festival Day (Hungarofest)

2-4 June 2017 Budapest, Mammut Shopping Mall

6-8 June 2017 Budapest, Duna Plaza

9-11 June 2017 Gyor, Arkad

16-18 June 2017 Pecs, Arkad

23-25 June 2017 Szeged, Arkad

30 Jun– 1-2 July 2017 Debrecen Plaza

7-9 July 2017 Balatonfured, Blue Ribbon Sailing Race

14 July 2017 – 20 August 2017 Market Street