Mexican Swimming Federation Has New Stabilization Committee in Place
The World Aquatics Bureau on Wednesday approved a new Stabilization Committee for the Mexican Swimming Federation, the latest step in trying to quell the turmoil roiling that nation’s aquatics governing body.
Maria Jose Alcala has been placed in charge of the committee. She is a four-time Olympic diver, the president of the Mexican Olympic Committee and a leader in Mexico’s interest in hosting the 2036 Summer Olympics. Alcala, 51, is the first woman to lead the Mexican Olympic Committee. The Mexican NOC’s Mario Garcia is the committee’s general secretary.
Joining her on the committee are one representative from each of the aquatics disciplines: Veronica Pavon (artistic swimming), Jorge Enrique Carreon Campos (diving), Adriana Jimenez Trejo (high diving), Jose Manuel Sotomayor Landecho (swimming), Jorge Castro Hernandez (water polo) and Rodolfo Zarco Rodriguez (open water).
From the World Aquatics press release:
The Stabilization Committee’s duties and obligations remain unchanged and are tasked with ensuring that the Mexican Swimming Federation adheres to the highest standards of good governance and transparency. This includes, but is not limited to, managing the daily affairs of the National Federation, and selecting and entering Mexican athletes in international competition for any of the aquatic sports.
The Stabilization Committee was impaneled in Jan. 2022. At the time, it was led by former swimmer Javier Diaz. The Mexican Swimming Federation appealed the formation of the committee to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but that challenge was swatted away.
The Mexican federation has been rife with issues. The most pressing is the suspension of Kiril Todorov after an investigation by the Aquatics Integrity Unit. Athletes have been effected by funding shortfalls over the last Olympic cycle, among them limitations in travel and international competition and failure of the federation to send training salaries. Athletes have turned to wealthy donors and crowdfunding to get to meets, as in the case of the artistic swimming delegation this year. One Mexican diver has started an OnlyFans account to support his training expenses.