World Aquatics Championships 2015 named best in FINA history

The meeting was chaired by FINA President Dr. Julio С. Maglione and FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculescu. Present on the part of the Russian delegation at the event were Tatarstan’s Minister of Youth Affairs and Sport Vladimir Leonov, Director General of the Directorate for Sports and Social Projects Azat Kadyrov, his deputy Ranko Tepavcevic and other officials.

After the report was read, the Tatarstan delegates presented the FINA Bureau members with commemorative medals instituted by Russia’s Minister of Sport and Chairman of the Kazan 2015 Organising Committee, Vitaly Mutko. Later on, at the FINA Conference, Tatarstan’s Sport Minister Vladimir Leonov delivered a report to update the FINA Family on the organisation of the 27th World Aquatics Championships in Kazan. He summed up the results of the past tournament and briefed the audience on the legacy and economic benefits of hosting the event. The Minister recalled the success of the Championships which registered one of the widest possible coverages by 81 broadcasting companies in 107 countries and the best-ever TV cumulative audience worldwide with 6,840,601,835 viewers.

Kazan also became a record holder in terms of the number of participating countries. 2,413 athletes (1,152 males and 1,261 females) and 1458 team officials representing 190 countries gathered in the host city for the tournament. 75 medal events were contested across 6 disciplines (42 in swimming, 7 in open water swimming, 13 in diving, 2 in high diving, 9 in synchronised swimming, 2 in water polo). The event programme featured 245 competition sessions and 1,286 hours of practice time. 12 world records were broken.

Four competition venues were used at the Championships: Kazan Arena Stadium (swimming, synchronised swimming – 10,566 seats), Aquatics Palace (diving – 3,440 seats), Water Polo Arena (water polo – 3,670 seats), Kazanka Venue (high diving, open water swimming – 3,612 seats). The total seating capacity of all competition venues amounted to 21,641 people.

Kazan’s outstanding experience of constructing temporary infrastructure for sporting events was also mentioned at the meeting. This experience is currently sought after by organising committees of major upcoming sporting events. The Kazan 2015 OC erected temporary venues that are without equal both nationally and internationally: temporary facilities at the Kazan Arena Stadium (for the first time in FINA history, two temporary 25-metre swimming pools were installed on a football field), Water Polo Arena, and temporary high diving infrastructure on the bank of the Kazanka River. A total of 1,500 tonnes of steel construction was used and 13,264 seats of temporary tribunes were built for the World Championships in Kazan.

“We are very proud of our organisation and we sincerely think that the FINA Family had an unforgettable experience in Kazan,” said Vladimir Leonov at the end of his speech. An honour plaque was handed to him by FINA.

The decisions were made after the vote of the FINA Bureau that Fukuoka (JPN) will host the 2021 edition of the FINA World Championships and the FINA World Masters Championships, while Doha (QAT) will host the same two competitions in 2023. The next edition of the World Aquatics Championships will be held in 2017 in Budapest. 

Press Office of Organising Committee for 16th FINA World Championships