Cornel Marculescu, FINA’s executive director for the last 35 years, announced his resignation Wednesday at the first FINA Bureau meeting of 2021.
The resignation is effective immediately. Marcela Saxlund Medvedev, previously FINA’s deputy executive director, has been nominated to fill Marculescu’s role on an interim basis. Pedro Adrega has been elevated to Medvedev’s assistant, having previously headed FINA’s communications department.
From FINA’s official statement:
The FINA Bureau members recognised the outstanding devotion and role of Mr Marculescu in the development of Aquatics in the five continents, contributing to make our Sport a pillar of the Olympic Movement.
Marculescu has been involved in aquatics since representing Romania in water polo at the 1964 Olympics. He also served as an official at the 1972 Games. Marculescu joined FINA in 1986 after serving as the Spanish Swimming Federation’s technical director for a decade.
His resignation is part of a shift at FINA that will come with the stepping down of President Julio Maglione in June after 13 years at the helm of the world’s governing body.
Marculescu hasn’t been without controversy in his time. He’s been criticized for what is perceived as a soft stance on doping, including on the Sun Yang controversy, the resulting athlete protests and on systemic doping in places like Russia.