Betting on the FINA Championships Online

The best place to start analyzing the history of the FINA World Aquatics Championships is the formation of the sanctioning body itself, FINA. Known in English as the International Swimming Federation. FINA is the international federation that sanctions international water competitions under both the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as well as the international community. It was formed on 19 July 1908 after the culmination of the 1908 Summer Olympics.

At its inception, the original members of FINA were the Belgium, British, Finnish, Danish, French, German, Swedish, and Hungarian swimming federations. Years later, many other federations have joined, bringing the total number of federations under the umbrella to 209. The members have been clustered into 5 continental associations; African Swimming Confederation, Swimming Union of the Americas, Asia Swimming Federation, European Swimming League, and Oceania Swimming Association.

The United States is the most dominant force in the World Aquatics Championships, with 622 medals, 268 being gold. China follows with 326 medals, 146 being gold. Other top nations in the tournament are Russia, Australia, Hungary, Italy, and Germany.

The most decorated athletes are Michael Phelps (26 gold medals), Svetlana Romashina (21 gold medals), Natalia Ishchenko (19 gold medals), Ryan Lochte (18 gold medals), and Svetlana Kolesnichenko (16 gold medals).

Disciplines in FINA World Swimming Championships

As mentioned earlier, the FINA World Championships is multidisciplinary. The inaugural World Aquatics Championships had only 4 disciplines; diving, swimming, synchronized swimming, and water polo.

Later on, high diving and open water swimming were introduced, taking the total number of disciplines to 6. Open water swimming debuted in the 1991 FINA World Championships, while high diving was introduced in the 2013 FINA World Aquatics Championships.

FINA World Swimming Championships has both men's and women's divisions as well as mixed events.

The FINA World Swimming Championships is among the biggest sports events globally. It attracts swimming athletes from the entire globe. Besides the athletes, the tournament enjoys a huge following from the entire aquatic sports fraternity.

Lately, the FINA World Swimming Championships has also hit the headlines on online sport betting sites. So, what's driving the popularity of FINA World Swimming Championships betting?

First is the popularity of aquatic sports, particularly the FINA World Championships. According to data from FINA, over 4.5 billion people watched the television coverage (live and tape-delayed broadcast) of the 15th FINA World Championships in 2013. From the huge followers of aquatic sports, there are many bettors who want to wager on their favorite discipline in the tournament.

Second is the availability of FINA World Swimming Championships betting sites. In the past, sportsbooks focused only on the main sports, soccer, basketball, and the rest. However, with the popularity of water sport tournaments such as the FINA World Swimming Championships, bookmakers are rushing to offer swimming enthusiasts the chance to wager on their favorite nation and athletes in the different disciplines.