Jamaican swim darling Alia Atkinson has been named as one of 29 candidates nominated for the Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) Athletes’ Committee election set for June 18 to July 3, 2022.
Atkison, who represented Jamaica at five Olympics, will be the representative from the Americas continent on the Committee ballot.
The Committee members will be decided by swimmers within the federation as the athletes will have a direct hand in who will represent their interests.
In spite of the 29 announced candidates, ultimately, 20 athletes will be elected to the Committee by their peers, with an additional six set to be appointed by the FINA President.
Six more Honorary Members will also be appointed by the FINA President, which will be in addition to two aquatic athletes who are members of the IOC Athletes’ Commission.
Daniel Gyurta (Hungary) and Federica Pellegrini (Italy) will also be on the committee, which is set to bring a total of 34 athletes occupying the FINA Athletes’ Committee.
According to FINA rules, at least one member of the Committee must come from each of FINA’s 6 regions, which means some members are running unopposed.
With Atkinson reportedly being the sole representative from the Americas, she will automatically be elected to the committee.
The criteria for eligibility are as follows: an athlete must have competed at the 2017, 2019, or 2022 World Championships or the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games; athletes do not have to be active athletes, though if they don’t compete at the 2022 World Championships, they cannot vote (for themselves or anyone else), as per Swim Swam.
The Chair of the committee will be an ex-officio member of the FINA Bureau to communicate athlete perspectives on different matters, including to technical committees regarding rules, and to bring input of athletes to the organization of the World Championships.
Atkinson who announced her retirement in 2021, has broken the world record in short course 50 &100m breaststroke four times and was three times Jamaican Sportswoman of the Year.
