Bet on FINA Championships 🏆

History of the FINA Championships

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.

FINA World Swimming Championships

While FINA was formed in 1908, it was not until 1973 that the first FINA World Championships was hosted in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. The event was held in the Tašmajdan Sports Center from 31 August to 9 September 1973 and attracted 686 athletes from 47 nations. Today, this Championships attract more than 2,000 athletes.

About the Championships

Between 1978 and 1998, the FINA World Aquatics Championships were held every four years. At the time, the four-year schedule meant the World Championships were held in the even years between the Summer Olympic years. However, in 2001 new changes were introduced. Instead of four years, the Championships have been held after two years.

The most recent World Championships was held in 2019. Dubbed the 18th FINA World Aquatics Championships, the event was held in Gwangju, South Korea, from 12 July to 28 July. 191 nations took part in the Championships, alongside 1 Refugee Team of FINA Independent Athletes. Unfortunately, the 2020 and 2021 events were canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite the recent cancellations, the event will be back in 2022. The 19th FINA World Championships will be held from 18 June to 3 July 2022 in Budapest, Hungary, while the 20th FINA World Championships will run from 14 to 30 July 2023 in Fukuoka, Japan.

Most successful teams and athletes

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.

About swimming

Swimming is a sport where participants use their bodies to move through the water. From Stone Age paintings, competitive swimming can be dated back to the prehistoric era. However, in the modern era, it emerged as a competitive recreational activity in the 1830s in England.

As early as 1837, the National Swimming Society was hosting several swimming competitions. Today, swimming, at a competitive level, has several variants. For example, in the FINA Championships, there are four variants - diving, swimming, synchronized swimming, and water polo.

Why is FINA World Swimming Championships popular?

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.

How to bet on FINA World Swimming Championships

Now, the elephant in the room is, how do punters bet on the FINA World Swimming Championships? In this section, find out some of the resourceful betting tips for starters.

When betting on sport tournaments that cut across different disciplines, the most important thing is understanding the different sports, gameplay, and rules. In this case, it's essential to understand how the six aquatic sports are played, the objective, and, importantly, the betting options.

After understanding the different games in the tournament and how they are played, the next step is to find a bookmaker with FINA World Swimming Championships markets as not all bookmakers cover water sports.

The third and most important is to understand the current form of the different athletes and teams. Some athletes and teams are favorites while others are underdogs. For those who don't actively follow the different water sports in this tournament, checking the odds can offer insights into the favorite athletes. The rule of the thumb is, the lower the odds, the higher the chances of the bet coming through, and vice versa.

Last, make sure the site has a valid license. It's also a clever idea to hunt for sports betting bonuses to increase the bankroll.