Synchronized swimming, also known as artistic swimming, is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by World Aquatics. It has traditionally been a women's sport, although FINA introduced a new mixed gender duet competition that included one male swimmer in each duet at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships and European Aquatics introduced men's individual events at the 2022 European Aquatics Championships. From 2024, men are able to compete in the team event at the Olympics.
World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA, is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in water sports. It is one of several international federations which administer a given sport or discipline for both the IOC and the international community. It is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The World Aquatics Championships are the World Championships for six aquatic disciplines: swimming, diving, high diving, open water swimming, artistic swimming, and water polo. The championships are staged by World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA, the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in water sports. The championships are World Aquatics' largest and main event traditionally held biennially every odd year, with all six of the aquatic disciplines contested every championships. Dr. Hal Henning, FINA's president from 1972 through 1976, and their first American President, was highly instrumental in starting the first World Aquatics Championships, and in retaining the number of swimming events in the Olympics, which gave an advantage to nations with larger, more balanced swim teams.
The aquatics discipline of swimming is considered the flagship event at every edition of the World Aquatics Championships since its introduction in 1973. While open water swimming events were added to the program in 1991, it is considered a separate discipline to swimming.
The 2001 World Aquatics Championships or the 9th FINA World Swimming Championships were held in Fukuoka, Japan between 16 July and 29 July 2001.
The 2009 World Aquatics Championships or the XIII FINA World Championships were held in Rome, Italy from 18 July to 2 August 2009. This was the second time the championships were held in the city after being previously hosted in 1994.
Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre is an international sporting venue located in Albert Park, Victoria, Australia. The centre was opened on 24 July 1997 at a construction cost of A$65 million. The cost was funded by the State Government of Victoria and the City of Port Phillip. The centre has hosted international events including the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the 2007 World Aquatics Championships.
Oussama "Ous" Mellouli is a Tunisian swimmer who competes in the freestyle and medley events. He is a three-time Olympic medalist, is an African record holder, and trains with the USC Trojans team based at the University of Southern California, where he studied as a computer science undergraduate and swam collegiately.
The swimming competition at the 12th FINA World Aquatics Championships was held in Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia, from 25 March to 1 April 2007. This portion of the 2007 Worlds featured 40 events, all swum in a long course (50 m) pool:
The men's 400 metre freestyle at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships took place on 25 March at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia.
The men's 800 metre freestyle was the 17th event of the swimming program at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships held in Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia. The event was swum on the morning of 27 March (heats) and in the evening of 28 March. 46 swimmers were entered in the event, of which 43 swam in one of 6 preliminary heats. The top-8 finishers from the prelims qualified ("Q") to swim in the final the next evening.
The 15th FINA World Championships were held from 20 July to 4 August in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The 2013 World Championships featured 6 aquatics disciplines: swimming, water polo, diving, high diving, open water, and synchronised swimming.
A synchronized swimming competition was held at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships, in Perth, Western Australia between 8 and 17 January 1998.
The 16th FINA World Championships, also Aquatics 2015, were held in Kazan, Russia from 24 July to 9 August 2015. Russia hosted this event for the first time. The number of participating national teams (190), athletes (2,400) and the number of medals (75) were the most ever amongst these championships. This was the first time the World Aquatics Championships partially overlaps with the FINA World Masters Championships that have a number of athletes, countries (110) and medals (635) which are the most ever also.
The diving competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place from 7 to 20 August at Maria Lenk Aquatic Center in Barra da Tijuca. It was one of four aquatic sports at the Games, along with swimming, water polo, and synchronised swimming.
The 2019 World Aquatics Championships were the 18th FINA World Aquatics Championships, held in Gwangju, South Korea from 12 to 28 July 2019. The city had previously hosted the 2015 Summer Universiade aquatics events in the same venues.
The 2023 World Aquatics Championships, the 20th edition of the World Aquatics Championships, were held in Fukuoka, Japan, from 14 to 30 July 2023. Originally scheduled to be held in 2021 as the 19th championships, the championships were postponed until May 2022 in response to the rescheduling of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was pushed back a second time to 2023 due to ongoing travel restrictions and safety measures in place in Japan. In its place, Budapest hosted the 19th Championships from 18 June to 3 July 2022, while the originally scheduled 2023 championships in Doha, Qatar, were moved to 2024.
Singapore Aquatics (SAQ) is the national governing body for competitive swimming, diving, synchronised swimming, water polo and open water swimming in Singapore. SAQ is also charged with selecting the Singapore Olympic Swimming team and any other teams that officially represent Singapore, as well as the overall organisation and operation of the sport within the country.
The Palace of Water Sports is an indoor aquatics centre in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia which was built for the 2013 Summer Universiade. Located on the banks of the Kazanka River, the competitions in synchronized swimming, diving, swimming and water polo took place here. It later hosted the diving events for the 2015 World Aquatics Championships. As of 2018, the facility was utilized by approximately 3,000 children per day.
The 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the 19th edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships, were held in Budapest, Hungary, from 17 June to 3 July 2022. These championships included five disciplines, with high diving not staged for this edition of the championships.
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