Editorial Coverage provided by 
Beyond all expectations, fans turned out in extremely huge numbers at the 17th FINA World Championships.
Budapest 2017 Organising Committee President and Minister of National Development Miklos Sesztak proudly announced that during the 17-day competition and the opening and closing ceremonies 485,000 spectators filled the stands of the five plus two venues.
“All swimming final sessions were sold out technically, only some seats for complimentary ticket-holders may have remained empty” Mr. Sesztak said.
“Each of the men’s water polo team’s matches went with capacity crowds which means 7,500 fans per evening. Apart from the first two days, all synchro sessions saw 5,000 spectators filling the tribunes which was a real but a very pleasant surprise.”
The President added that foreign visitors saw with amazement that the morning swimming heats drew an average of 7,200 attendees (including a 10,000 turnout on the first day of the competition), no tickets were available for the open water swimming and high diving events.
The last day of the diving meet became a historical moment as the men’s platform final was witnessed by 7,900 spectators, the largest crowd ever watching diving in Hungary (filling almost all seats alongside the empty swimming competition pool).
“Add 400,000 more who gathered in the fan zones and we are almost reaching a figure of 900,000 who wanted to be part of this experience” the minister said.
He added that on the penultimate day, shortly before the start of the water polo World Championship final between Hungary and Croatia, not only the fan zone but the entire Margaret Island had to be closed down by the authorities as more than 40,000 people showed up and tried to take a seat in front of the giant screens.
Together with Mayor Istvan Tarlos, fellow minister, responsible for sport, Zoltan Balog and Government Commissioner Balazs Furjes, Mr. Sesztak praised the impact the FINA World Championships had on tourism.
“Usually one visitor spends 2.3 days in Hungary, this figure has jumped to 9.3 during the event which is truly outstanding. Hoteliers benefited from a 25% rise of the prices” the head of the Organising Committee said.
And the show goes on: within days the FINA World Masters Championships will begin at the very same venues and around 10,000 participants will hit the pools in five disciplines.
The above press release courtesy of FINA
- FINA CHAMPIONSHIP PAGE
- ULTIMATE SCHEDULE GUIDE
- QUALIFIED HIGH DIVERS
- MEDAL TABLE
- 2015 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
- LIVE RESULTS
- OPEN WATER LIVE RESULTS
- PSYCH SHEET
- DAY EIGHT FINALS HEAT SHEETS
- DAY ONE PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY ONE FINALS RESULTS
- DAY TWO PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY TWO FINALS RESULTS
- DAY THREE PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY THREE FINALS RESULTS
- DAY FOUR PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY FOUR FINALS RESULTS
- DAY FIVE PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY FIVE FINALS RESULTS
- DAY SIX PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY SIX FINALS RESULTS
- DAY SEVEN PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY SEVEN FINALS RESULTS
- DAY EIGHT PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY EIGHT FINALS RESULTS
This was one of the best World Championships ever. It was magic!