Olympic Gold Medalists Among Candidates for World Aquatics Athletes’ Committee

World Aquatics has released the list of candidates for the new Athletes’ Committee Election, which will be voted on by participants in the upcoming World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.

• See the full list and bios on each candidate here.

The committee was inaugurated for a 2022-2026 term under the view that “Ensuring athlete involvement in decision-making processes is vital for the advancement of Aquatics Sports.” The entire committee is re-elected every four years.

“In this perspective, World Aquatics advocates for the active participation of athletes in key decision-making processes. Establishing an Athletes’ Committee stands as the most effective method to solicit input from athletes, bridging the gap between them and World Aquatics Members, and ensuring their voices are taken into account.”

The committee is made up of:

• 20 athletes from elections conducted at the World Aquatics World Championships
  • 10 swimming athletes, comprised of one male and one female athlete from each AQUA continent (Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe, and Oceania)
  • 2 open water athletes, one male and one female
  • 2 high diving athletes, one male and one female
  • 2 artistic swimming athletes, one male and one female
  • 2 water polo athletes, one male and one female
• 6 athletes appointed by the World Aquatics President (subject to the approval of the AQUA Bureau)
• 6 honorary members appointed by the World Aquatics President (subject to the approval of the AQUA Bureau)
• All athlete(s) from any of the aquatics disciplines who are members of the IOC Athletes Commission

The committee has no formal voting power, except that the group’s elected chair serves as an ex officio member of the Bureau and Executive. The group does have an advisory role to communicate athletes’ perspectives to AQUA on matters on the organization of competition, technical rules proposals, to bring forward any “suggestions” or “remarks” made by athletes during competitions, and to participate in technical committee meetings.

The current committee includes a number of high profile swimmers, including Alia Atkinson, Therese Alshammar, Dmitriy Balandin, Dylan Carter, Ana Marcela Cunha, Anthony Ervin, Jessica Hansen, Siobhan Haughey, Chad Ho, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Daniel Kowalski, Adam Peaty, Simona Quadarella, Shane Ryan, Matthew Sates, and Ferry Weertman.

Only a handful of these swimmers are running for re-election: Sates, Haughey, Balandin, and Ryan are back on the ballot.

There are relatively-few swimmers on the ballot this round. Alexia Sotomayor from Peru and Jorge Iga from Mexico are the only continental candidates for the Americas; Cheyenne Rova from Fiji and Wesley Tikiariki Roberts from the Cook Islands are the only candidates from Oceania.

The European election is down to Tamila Holub and Simona Rushton from Czech Republic on the women’s side. The men’s list includes a number of high profile swimmers, like the recently-retired Felix Auboeck, Slovakian Richard Nagy, Ukrainian Mykhailo Romanchuk, and Ryan. There are also two nominees from nations currently banned (officially) from World Aquatics competition, at least under their home flag: Ilya Shymanovich of Belarus and Andrei Minakov of Russia.

Asia has just two female candidates as well: Haughey, a current committee member, and Kim Seoyeong of South Korea. The men’s side includes Balandin, Man Hou Chao from Macau, Sajan Prakash from India, I Gede Siman Sudartawa from Indonesia, Eldor USmonov from Uzbekistan, and Wang Shun from China.

China will send, by far, the biggest delegation of the Asian nations represented, and with one vote per athlete, Shun has a marked advantage in the vote.

Africa, meanwhile, has five nominated candidates: Hazel Alamy from Sierra Leone and Siwakhile Dlamini from Eswatini as women’s candidates; and Magnim Jordano Daou from Togo, Collins Saliboko from Tanzania, and Sates from South Africa as men’s candidates.

There are only three candidates for the open water seats, and only one in a competitive race. Cunha from Brazil will run for re-election against Caroline Jouisse of France, while David Farinango Berru of Ecuador is the only man running.

In diving, Melissa Wu from Australia is running unopposed; the only Olympic medalist running on the men’s side is Jack Laugher from Great Britain, who won 3 meter gold in Rio among four total Olympic medals.

The high diving candidates Ginni Van Katwijk of the Netherlands and Catalin-Petru Preda of Romania will both run unopposed.

Five women and three men are running for the artistic swimming seats, including current committee members Nehal Saafan of Egypt and American Bill May.

In water polo, Hungarian Rita Keszthelyi and Croatian Marko Bijac are also running unopposed.