Maglione Nears Third Term as FINA President; Neuberger President of UANA

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Reported and written by Kevin Nutley with Around the Rings (ATR) in Toronto

FINA president Julio Maglione receives unanimous support from the Unión Americana de Natación (UANA) to serve another term as aquatics federation president. The UANA quadrennial general assembly offered its support to the incumbent president on Monday, July 13, in Toronto.

For Maglione to be reelected, the FINA congress must first approve changes to its statutes concerning term and age limits that would allow him to serve a third consecutive term.

With the unanimous support of the Americas, Maglione has the political support from the continental federations needed to win the election. No clear challenger has emerged to oppose him.

The FINA president is in Toronto primarily to perform his duties as the interim president of PASO during the Pan Am Games now underway. Maglione stepped in as president after the Mario Vazquez Raña died earlier this year.

During the meeting, several UANA members thanked Maglione for his contributions towards resolving scheduling conflicts between the Pan Am Games and the FINA world championships taking place in Kazan, Russia later this month. They noted he was the only man capable of accomplishing this, a feat facilitated by his role as president for both organizations.

Maglione will leave Toronto on Wednesday to prepare for the FINA world championships in Kazan, which begin July 24.

Current FINA vice president Dale Neuburger of the United States was reconfirmed in his position as FINA vice president. Neuburger won the election from the UANA general assembly against Margo Mountjoy of Canada. Neuburger also follows Coaracy Filho of Brazil as the president of UANA. The UANA constitution requires the position to be rotated across the four zones within the organization.

The election solidifies his position as vice president of FINA for 2017 to 2021. Neuburger tells Around the Rings this will be his last election.

“I’m very excited to continue, this will be my last term from 2017 to 2021. I’ve served as vice president [of FINA] since 2000 and my role will be to help new young leaders emerge within the Americas. I’m proud to serve under President Maglione. He’s been my friend for 30 years and he’s a fantastic president, I’m very fortunate,” he tells Around the Rings.

Dale Neuburger also remarks that this was the first UANA general assembly to have full representation, including the addition of Curacao and Haiti earlier in the meeting. That brought the number of countries to 42.

“In Guadalajara we only had 30 countries represented out of a possible 40. To have a full delegation here in Toronto shows that everyone is very invested in our sport and its progress which is really spectacular,” he tells ATR .

Neuburger will serve as the UANA president through the next Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru in 2019.

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