185 FINA Member Federations Send Pool Swimmers to 2022 World Championships

185 member federations have entered pool swimmers at the 2022 FINA World Aquatics Championships. That is a decrease from the 195 member federations that entered pool swimmers at the last edition of this event in 2019.

  • Data based on the originally published PDF Entries List from Wednesday of this week.

In total, FINA currently recognizes 209 member federations, with a maximum of one federation allowed per “sport nation” (though not all members are sovereign nations in the traditional sense).

Of those, 13 member federations* that competed in the 2019 World Championships won’t compete in 2022.

The asterisk is because there are some caveats in here. Athletes who compete with the Refugee team (which we have not included in our nation counts above) are not credited as competing for their member federations, while Kenyan athletes under the name “Suspended Member Federation” or “SMF,” as the Kenyan federation has been suspended indefinitely by FINA over problems with the federation’s governance practices.

Two federations, Russia and Belarus, have also been suspended by FINA because of their roles in the invasion of Ukraine.

This leaves a list of 10 other federations that competed in 2019 but didn’t send a team to this meet.

Absent Member Nations:

Absentees
American Samoa
Bhutan
Belarus
Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
Eritrea
Kenya*
Liechtenstein
Macao
Malta
Monaco
Namibia
Russia
Vanuatu

With ongoing challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the changes in plans for this year’s World Championships, a few absences was not a big surprise.

On the opposite side of the coin, there were three member nations that did not compete in pool swimming in 2019 that have sent teams this year:

  • Democratic Republic of Congo (V Bobimbo, Freddy Mayala, Stefan Sangala)
  • Iraq (Aaj Al-Hasani, Hak Al-Zinkee)
  • Turks & Caicos (Rohan Shearer)

There are a further 11 nations that have not competed at either the 2019 or the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in pool swimming:

Absent from 2019 & 2022
Anguilla
Belize
Chad
Dominica
Guinea-Bissau
Gibraltar
British Virgin Islands
Liberia
Myanmar
North Korea
Somalia

Below is a full list of those member federations participating in pool swimming at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships. To see entries by federation, click here.

2022 Participants
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Aruba
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Burundi
Belgium
Benin
Bermuda
Bosnia and Hezegovina
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Bahrain
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Central African Republic
Cambodia
Canada
Cayman Islands
Congo
Chile
China
Cameroon
Dem. Rep. Congo
Cook Islands
Colombia
Comoros
Cape Verde
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cuba
Curacao
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Spain
Estonia
Ethiopia
Faroe Islands
Fiji
Finland
France
FINA Refugee Team
Micronesia
Gabon
Gambia
Great Britain
Georgia
Equatorial Guinea
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guam
Guyana
Haiti
Hong Kong
Honduras
Hungary
Indonesia
India
Iran
Ireland
Iraq
Iceland
Israel
US Virgin Islands
Italy
Jamaica
Jordan
Japan
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
South Korea
Kosovo
Saudi Arabia
Kuwait
Laos
Latvia
Libya
Lebanon
Saint Lucia
Lesotho
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Sint Maarten
Madagascar
Morocco
Malaysia
Malawi
Moldova
Maldives
Mexico
Mongolia
Marshall Islands
North Macedonia
Mali
Montenegro
Mozambique
Mauritius
Nicaragua
Netherlands
Nepal
Nigeria
Niger
Northern Mariana Islands
Norway
New Zealand
Oman
Pakistan
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Palestine
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Romania
South Africa
Rwanda
Samoa
Senegal
Seychelles
Singapore
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Sierra Leone
Slovenia
San Marino
Solomon Islands
Serbia
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Switzerland
Suriname
Slovakia
Sweden
Eswatini (FKA Swaziland)
Syria
Tanzania
Turks & Caicos
Tonga
Thailand
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Timor-Leste
Togo
Chinese Taipei
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
UAE
Uganda
Ukraine
Uruguay
USA
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Suspended Member Federation
FINA Refugee Federation

9
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

9 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
STRAIGHTBLACKLINE
2 years ago

There’s a history of swimmers from very minor swimming nations(usually developing countries) entering the 50M events who haven’t met the qualifying times but are invited to compete under the ‘universality’ clause. Then they fail to actually enter the event. But hey, the swimmers and more so the officials from these ‘FINA family members’ get an all expenses paid foreign trip and FINA can pretend it is developing the sport. I just wish it wasn’t such a gravy train.

#AthleteLivesMatter
Reply to  STRAIGHTBLACKLINE
2 years ago

You raise a very interesting point. We need to have qualifying times and strictly enforce those times for the sake of impartiality. Allowing swimmers in who have not met the qualifying times for the sake of “universality” just damages the reputation of FINA. It damages the idea of impartiality and leads the public to believe that the government is influencing who is allowed into the meet.

#AthleteLivesMatter

#AthleteLivesMatter
2 years ago

The public has already lost faith in FINA. Everyday, more and more people from across the globe are recognizing FINA as a hypocrite. FINA has failed to do their job – uphold the values of our sport and protect the integrity of the sport. If FINA can pick and choose which athletes to allow, that means they have the ability to pick and choose who makes it on the podium. Unacceptable!

#AthleteLivesMatter

IVetoBreaststroke
2 years ago

I’d be curious how many of the smaller nations are being represented by NCAA athletes – I remember swimming with an olympian or two at some relatively small regional meets, because they had represented tiny island nations

swimswamer
2 years ago

Hey FINA, why ban Russia and Belarus and not ban countries that criminalize the LGBTQ community? (in some cases even throw them off roofs).
Unless you´re assuming the swimmers themselfs got nothing to do with it so why punish them? (in that case why ban the russians/belarussians?).
We all know it´s just politics, photo op´s and being “political correct”, but at least try to be congruent with your actions.

Fobby Binke
Reply to  swimswamer
2 years ago

Russia and Belarus attacked an independent country (and a member of FINA) UNPROVOKED.

Other countries didn’t.

Last edited 2 years ago by Fobby Binke
swimswamer
Reply to  Fobby Binke
2 years ago

Im simply pointing out FINA´s hipocrosy . These institutions corporations etc are all for humans rights and fighting for what´s right only when it suits them, but it´s all like i said, just for photo ops and making themselfs look good, if it wasn´t, they would stick with their beliefs every time regardless of profits/countries envolved etc.

At least bother to read the comment, i mentioned how the LGBTQ is treated in some countries as an EXAMPLE.Unless you re suggesting that being killed for your sexual orientation isn´t reason to suspend a country?
If they were actually honest about defending humans rights they would go after everyone that doesn´t respect human rights.
ALSO, some of this countries are… Read more »

Last edited 2 years ago by swimswamer
Fobby Binke
Reply to  swimswamer
2 years ago

Bans against Russia and Belarus is not about human rights.

It’s about two countries attacking an independent country (and FINA member) UNPROVED.

#AthleteLivesMatter
Reply to  swimswamer
2 years ago

Great point. FINA is filled with hypocrisy. They are not consistent with how they apply these bans.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

Read More »