The Mexican Swimming Federation announced last week that it has cancelled its 2016 Olympic Trials meet after news that the federation has been suspended by FINA.
The Federación Mexicana de Natación (FMN) made two announcements last week, one announcing the cancellation of its Trials and the next clarifying that they will support the country’s top swimmers in qualifying for the Olympic Games at other meets.
The FMN is expected to announce this week which swimmers it considers worthy of attending another meet for qualification, most likely a Pro Swim Series event in the United States. They also confirmed that two swimmers, Long Gutierrez and Lili Ibanez, both of whom train in the United States, have already secured their Olympic spots based on “FINA A” times swum at last summer’s U.S. National Championships in San Antonio.
The FMN’s clarification is in response to criticism that they weren’t supporting their swimmers heading into the summer, a criticism that the federation says it “rejects.”
The Mexican federation was suspended earlier this year by FINA for a failure to pay the $5 million fine associated with their withdraw from hosting duties of the 2017 World Championships. While FINA has refused comment on what exactly the suspension means or how long it’s supposed to last, Mexican athletes were informed that they would be competing under the FINA flag for the duration of the suspension rather than the Mexican flag. The first sight of that came two weeks ago where 12 Mexican athletes, including their Olympic-medal-caliber divers, competed under the FINA flag.
The IOC did reveal more information about exactly what the suspension means. A spokesperson for the organization says that the Mexican National Olympic Committee (as with all Olympic committees) is responsible for selecting and entering athletes at the Olympic Games, not the FMN, as is a part of the Olympic Charter. Therefore, spots in the Olympics are actually awarded to the Mexican Olympic Committee, and the suspension of the FMN won’t interfere with that selection process.
Because Mexico put in a bid .It s not up to FINA to discriminate because Mexicans are hopeless. The responsibility in this & all contracts is with the tenderer.
You cannot upload your personal disappointments onto FINA .It is just an organisationn of kind elderly people who like to visit Switzerland . It might have something to do with Swiss ethics which are of the highest highest standards .No doubt they are impressed with the Swiss attracting monies of soon to be expired European Jews in the 1930s & keeping it a secret for 70 years . That’s confidentiality & security!
There is a Nostradamus prediction that islamic ( or some other organisation) will storm Switzerland , destroy their evil… Read more »
Be interesting to dig into the FINA records and see how Mexico is being treated compared to the UAE giving back the 2013 Worls Aquatics Championships
Exactly. I have wondered that .We will know maybe in 2080. (swiss tricks) .
Or perhaps a bit sooner. The Swiss seem to have taken a bit of interest in the FIFA and IAAF messes and it wouldn’t shock me to have them come across a red flag in the course of investigating other federations that leads them down the path to having a closer look at FINA.
I am sure UAE has every possibility to bay any fine, bill or check.
Swiss ethics?
🙂
Because it’s a pay to play system and, at the time of the bidding, Mexico was flush with oil money and could write the big checks for sporting events. USAS has run the numbers a few times since Lon Beach fortunately lost out to Montreal for, IIRC, 2005, and, given the size of their budget and what their sponsors are willing to pony up, they feel like they get more for their money with the Pro Series/Grand Prix and by giving the top of their National Team a living wage while they train than to spend millions and millions going down the FNA rabit hole.
FINA should fine itself $5 million for picking Mexico to host the World Championships in the first place. Mexico? Why on earth would an organizations pick Mexico for a world championship swim meet?
There are so many other places that make 100% more sense, like the US or Australia or Europe or the better sites in Asia. Maybe the US will host the WC’s one day. It’s not like we don’t have the venues……
FINA must be run by morons.
You dont think we could have run them? Guadalajara has already FIRST world installations to held many type of international events. Monterrey in 2008 held the Junior World Championships, and Guadalajara hosted the 2011 Panamerican Games…. So infrastructure is there, just maybe the money was not, I dont know the exact details. But believe me, the issue here is not infrastructure but money, politics and corruption from both sides.
That’s a great reason NOT to hold the event in Mexico. Money, politics and corruption, that’s reason enough to hold the meet somewhere else.
Mexico is not a swimming mecca. In fact, I can’t remember a great Mexican swimmer since Felipe Munoz back in 1968.
Mexico was a terrible choice. just plain terrible. FINA is a joke.