2017 FINA WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Sunday, July 23rd – Sunday, July 30th
- Budapest, Hungary
- LCM (50m)
- Full Competition Schedule
- Meet Info
- Psych Sheets
- Omega Results
- Pick ’em Contest
- Event-by-Event Previews
While there were more nations entering only men or only women in pool swimming at the 2017 World Championships, there were actually 15 fewer women’s teams and 10 fewer men’s teams compared to the 2015 World Champs.
Those numbers are based on nations listed in the meet entry book, which doesn’t necessarily take into account if any nations fully scratched out of the meet. We’re also focusing in only on pool swimming, not including open water, water polo, diving or synchronized swimming. You can see the full numbers below, first split by total nation with male entrants, female entrants and entrants of any gender, then split by nations only entering women, nations only entering men and nations entering swimmers in both genders:
Nations With Male/Female Entries, 2017 vs 2015
Men’s Teams vs Women’s Teams vs Total Teams
| Men’s Teams | Women’s Teams | Total Federations | |
| 2017 | 172 | 155 | 180 |
| 2015 | 182 | 170 | 185 |
| % Growth | -5.49% | -8.82% | -2.70% |
Men Only vs Women Only vs Dual Gender
| Men’s Only Nations | Women’s Only Nations | Dual Gender Nations | |
| 2017 | 25 | 8 | 147 |
| 2015 | 15 | 3 | 167 |
| % Growth | 66.67% | 166.67% | -11.98% |
In general, more nations brought one gender or the other, but the number of nations entering men and women dropped by 20, and the total nations represented dropped by 5. (Also worth noting: we counted the FINA banner as its own federation, as several swimmers swam under that umbrella in both 2015 and 2017.
New Nations, Absent Nations
In 2017, there were 5 entirely new nations that were not present at the 2015 World Championships. (The only wrinkle there is Sri Lanka, which had swimmers competing in 2015, only under the FINA umbrella.) But there were 10 nations competing in 2015 who were not present in 2017.
Here’s the full list of additional nations represented from 2015 to 2017, as well as nations represented in 2015 but not in 2017:
| Men’s Additions (4) | Women’s Additions (10) | New Nations (5) | Men’s Subtractions (14) | Women’s Subtractions (25) | Overall Subtractions (10) |
| Afghanistan | Algeria | Afghanistan | Andorra | Azerbaijan | Bermuda |
| Oman | American Samoa | American Samoa | Bermuda | Bahamas | Cameroon |
| Sri Lanka | Djibouti | Oman | Cayman Islands | Bermuda | Congo |
| Venezuela | Haiti | Sri Lanka* | Congo | Brunei | Ethiopia |
| Iraq | Timor-Leste | Cameroon | Congo | Gabon | |
| Saint Lucia | Ethiopia | Cameroon | Lesotho | ||
| South Africa | Gabon | Cook Islands | Malaysia | ||
| Sri Lanka | Iceland | Croatia | Myanmar | ||
| Swaziland | Lesotho | Cuba | San Marino | ||
| Timor-Leste | Malaysia | Ecuador | Sudan | ||
| Myanmar | Ethiopia | ||||
| Peru | Virgin Islands (US) | ||||
| North Korea | Jamaica | ||||
| Sudan | Libya | ||||
| Malaysia | |||||
| Myanmar | |||||
| Papua New Guinea | |||||
| Qatar | |||||
| Singapore | |||||
| San Marino | |||||
| Kuwait | |||||
| Sudan | |||||
| United Arab Emirates | |||||
| Uzbekistan | |||||
| St Vincent & Grenadines |
You can find the full FINA entry books for the 2015 World Championships here and the 2017 World Championships here.
Only 2 genders – remarkable !
*Fewer
Jared, isn’t the Men’s Only Nations % Change 166.67%, not 66.67%? Or maybe the Womens Only Nations are wrong?
The numbers are correct – the women’s-only programs more than doubled compared to 2015. You’re right, though, it’s probably more accurate to call it “% growth” instead of “% change.” I updated that term in the charts.