28 Olympians & 2 World Champions Attend ISL Meetings in London

There were 30 athletes in attendance at the athletes’ meetings at this week’s ISL summit in London, England.

With growing interest in both the ISL and the growing momentum behind an athletes’ association, it’s important to recognize the names of athletes who were involved in conversations. All 30 in the group are Olympians except for 2: American Michael Andrew, who at 19 has already been a professional swimmer for 5 years and who was the 2016 World Champion in the 100 IM; and Kendyl Stewart, who is fresh off 3 relay World Championships and a 100 fly silver in Hangzhou.

While some of the world’s biggest names were absent (especially Americans like Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel, and Caeleb Dressel), the group still represented a significant number of World Records, international medals, and Olympic experience. A handful of the group (5-time Olympian Peter Manko, World Record holder Cameron van der Burgh, and US Olympic champions Jason Lezak and Lenny Krayzelburg) are former athletes who are heavily involved in the formation of the ISL.

The most noticeable regional absence from the meetings were athletes from Asian nations, which is also devoid of any teams in the 12-team league or any hosting duties for the 2019 edition of the series. The explanation for the absence of Asian athletes by ISL representatives so far has been that many of the Asian federations wield greater control over their athletes (and award them much greater prize money within the traditional system). The absence of any Asian meets on the tour (or Australian) given by ISL organizers is simply their greater familiarity with the American and European legal systems.

Athletes in attendance at 2018 ISL Summit

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Ol' Longhorn
5 years ago

What role do the retired swimmers (Krazelburg, Tancock, CVDB) play in this? I get it that they wish they would have had a pro league in their times (particularly the first two).

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
5 years ago

In other words, what does “heavily involved with” mean? Moral support from credibility, or do they have some management, operational, marketing/dollar networking skills they bring to the table? Any of them pals with the Oligarch/Not-Oligarch?

Ol' Longhorn
5 years ago

They will, unfortunately. With the run-up to the Olympics starting, sponsors of individual swimmers will get nervous with controversy, bonuses tied to WRs and such will go up in smoke if FINA doesn’t recognize them, bans from major FINA meets will decrease marketability of athletes at a time in the Olympic cycle when it is most advantageous for a swimmer to get FINA records show up at FINA major meets, etc. For the U.S. pros, if they get banned, there’s always 8 other swimmers who would gladly take their spot. Lots of risk for the swimmers, particularly the U.S. ones. None of those in attendance, much less collectively, are going to boycott the Olympics if a swimmer gets banned. FINA… Read more »

Scribble
5 years ago

Lia Neal is there, stuff just got real.

Superfan
5 years ago

Ai

Mr O
5 years ago

What statement?

Mr O
Reply to  Mr O
5 years ago
Socrateshatesoliveoil
Reply to  Mr O
5 years ago

Dose FINA DUDES bein smart! My money says the swimmers will get squashed like little bug.

DMacNCheez
Reply to  Mr O
5 years ago

“As to the issue of alleged athlete bans resulting from participation in unsanctioned events, FINA merely stated that results achieved in competitions for which approval and sanction were not duly sought and obtained would not be recognised. No approval was duly sought for the event announced in Turin. The decision to cancel it was made by the Italian Swimming Federation and ISL, which was presented merely as a sponsor.“

Did FINA just flat out lie?

eagleswim
Reply to  DMacNCheez
5 years ago

sounds like sean spicer picked up a gig overseas

JimSwim22
5 years ago

I hope the missing elite Americans are on board and just had schedule conflicts.

Hannah
Reply to  JimSwim22
5 years ago

Remember Ledecky is still in college she might have finals

Mr O
Reply to  JimSwim22
5 years ago

I agree! It’s sad that Dressel wasn’t there. It’s pretty strange that Cody Miller and Pieroni didn’t attend the summit. They talk positively about ISL in Cody’s Podcast.
But most of the world’s most influential swimmers was in London.

Swimming4silver
Reply to  Braden Keith
5 years ago

Andrew got a flight thru Heathrow to JFK

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Braden Keith
5 years ago

Peironi went to the beach to hang with friends. Never intended to go to it.

eagleswim
Reply to  Braden Keith
5 years ago

PEATY

FUJANG
5 years ago

Lol who was the lone world champion? Stewart and Andrew both are not Olympians

Mr O
5 years ago

Hopefully ISL will expand in the future, adding huge cities like Toky, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Shanghai, Sidney and many more.
The league could split in 3 (1.Europe, 2.America, 3.The rest of the world) and then qualify for the the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals where the the 4-8 best teams from each league swim against each other.

Brownish
Reply to  Mr O
5 years ago

Everybody hopes so. So called triple in the pool. Could be. The most important thing is that IMHO ISL will get a piece of this cake. Good approach, good job and they won’t give up.

Yozhik
Reply to  Brownish
5 years ago

ISL wants the piece not simply of the cake but of the most creamy part of it. Now it is a business competition. And it will be me and you who will decide if ISL survives as a business enterprise. It is me and you who pays money at the end. Will you spend your money to watch World Championships (the normal one) in Budapest even if you are not living in Hungary at the time? Many Hungarians who live in USA did it making a reservations almost a year ahead. Will you pay your money (if your budget permits) to watch live Olympic competition? You will. Will you wake up in the middle of the night to watch broadcasting… Read more »

Brownish
Reply to  Yozhik
5 years ago

In Hungary M4 (tv) or/and m4sport.hu broadcasts nearly all of the major (national and international) swimming competitions in which we could be interested in (SC, LC, OG, WC, EC, YOG, WJC, EJC, WCup) live and free (I know that nothing is free). And as you also know most of the international finals are not in the afternoon according to CET, owing not only the to time zones, but to NBC, too…
I think ISL will have a free live stream, at least at the beginning.
There were some youngsters on this list: https://swimswam.com/2018-energy-for-swim-meet-cancelled-after-negotiations-break-down/
Anyway let’s look at FIA. F1, F2, F3, F-E, WRC, WRX, ERC, RRC, WTCC/WTCR, ETC, etc., etc., mostly with different promoters… Read more »

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, …

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