STATEMENT FROM FINA – MARCH 1, 2022
Until further notice, no athlete or Aquatics official from Russia or Belarus will be allowed to take part under the name of Russia or Belarus. Russian or Belarusian nationals, be it individuals or teams, should be accepted only as neutral athletes or neutral teams. No national symbol, colours, flags should be displayed or anthems should be played, in international Aquatics events which are not already part of the respective Work Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) sanctions for Russia.
All routines from this event were filmed in February 2022
STATEMENT FROM CANADA AQUATICS – MARCH 16, 2022
In a media release issued on March 8, 2022, FINA, the international governing body for the aquatic sports, confirmed that “while denouncing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and discussing the impacts of the ensuing war on aquatics athletes and events, the FINA Bureau remains opposed to a blanket ban on all athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus and maintains its position that Russian and Belarusian athletes should only participate in FINA events in a neutral capacity.”
In the release, FINA also expressed “its continued support of the Ukrainian aquatics community, which includes joint financial assistance with European Aquatics to the Ukraine Swimming, Diving and Artistic Swimming Federations.”
Aquatics Canada Aquatiques (“ACA”) is the Canadian National Federation Member to FINA, representing and promoting the interests of the aquatic sports in Canada. ACA appreciates the complexity of the decision made by FINA and endorses its extension of financial support to our Ukrainian aquatics colleagues. However, ACA and each of its member sport governing bodies, Canada Artistic Swimming, Diving Plongeon Canada, Swimming Canada and Water Polo Canada, are obligated to comply with FINA’s decision on Russian and Belarusian participation in FINA-sanctioned events in Canada, including the upcoming FINA Artistic Swimming World Series #1 (co-hosted by Canada and USA). This places ACA and its member sports in an untenable position, being in direct conflict with the positions taken by Canadian sport governing leaders, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee, the COC Athletes Commission and much of the national and international sport community all of whom have called for a full ban of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from international competition.
We join our Canadian and international sport partners in strongly condemning the war against Ukraine by the Russian government, supported by the Belarusian government, and we add our voice to the collective calls for peace and the immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine. Our thoughts are with the Ukrainian people as well as with the community of athletes, coaches, staff and sport volunteers who may have friends or family affected by these horrible events.
