Russian aquatics sports federations unite to form new governing body

MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/. Russia’s four swimming sports federations convened for a joint reporting and election conference on Thursday, where they voted to form a single governing body, a TASS correspondent reported.
The voting took place at the headquarters of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).
Thus, the Russian Aquatics Federation was formed, unifying the Russian Swimming Federation, the Russian Synchronized Swimming Federation, the Russian Water Polo Federation, and the Russian Diving Federation.
Until now, each body operated independently. The unification aligns with global governing body World Aquatics, which also currently functions as a unified organization overseeing six sports: swimming, synchronized swimming, water polo, diving, open water swimming, and extreme high diving.
Dmitry Mazepin, 56, has been elected to take charge of Russia’s newly-established body of swimming sports. Mazepin is former owner and former CEO of Russian fertilizer giant Uralchem.
Mazepin was unanimously voted to head the body, having previously been supported by Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev.
“All four federations will be equal partners, each has a long history, traditions and achievements. My task is to provide them with the necessary resources for further development,” Mazepin said after his election.
“I want to stress that we have external challenges, rather serious ones, we must help one another, as all sports federations do, to return Russian sports back to the international arena, to go back to our former glory. Russia is, after all, a sporting power,” he continued.
“This was an offer I could not refuse; this is my home federation. I have chaired the supervisory board for over ten years,” Mazepin added.
On October 1, 2024, President of the Russian Swimming Federation Vladimir Salnikov announced that Russia would bring its swimming federations under a single entity. He emphasized that this measure makes sense since Russia’s gymnastics federations decided to unify in October 2024, stating that this would “create a stronger and more coordinated structure capable of effectively advancing our sports disciplines.”
According to Salnikov, unifying the federations will not only consolidate resources and simplify administrative procedures, but also improve the quality of training and competition processes.
Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev announced on October 1 his support for the initiative to unify the country’s water sports federations. The minister stated that such a move “would lead to better outcomes, primarily in the development of children’s and youth sports, and would increase the popularity of aquatic sports among the general public.”