FINA President Julio Maglione Adds PASO President To Duties

Photo Courtesy: Qatar Swimming

Julio Maglione will be very busy in 2015, as the president of the global swimming federation has also accepted a post as interim president of the Pan American Sports Organization. The PASO Extraordinary General Assembly took place Saturday in Miami, where the organization will set up new headquarters.

The Uruguayan takes the position just as FINA, the top swimming federation, prepares for this summer’s aquatics world championships in Kazan, Russia. That is the biggest competition that FINA solely organizes, and the event is swirling with controversy among headlines of doping scandals in Russia and financial back-alley dealings.

As president of PASO, Maglione said his primary duty is to draft a new constitution for the organization that acts as the conglomerate for all National Olympic Committees in North and South America. That constitution, according to an article by Inside the Games, is set to be presented before a meeting during the Pan American Games this July. The PASO General Assembly would vote on the new constitution in 2016. PASO reports directly to the International Olympic Committee and is responsible for putting on the Pan American Games, which will take place a week before the start of the aquatics world championships.

Maglione said one of the primary aspects of the new constitution will be to set term limits for PASO president, though the actual limit has not been specified. Maglione is stepping in as president to fill the vacancy left by the death of Mario Vazquez in February. Vazquez was PASO president for 40 years.

The term limit on the Paso presidency is slightly ironic, given that Maglione has succeeded in convincing FINA to eliminate the age limit for members of that organization’s presidency. Maglione, 79, has been quoted as saying he wants to serve as FINA President until he is 85. His current FINA term ends at the end of 2016, when he will be 81.

Maglione is also head of the Uruguayan Olympic Committee and is at the end of his term as a member of the International Olympic Committee. The IOC requires members to step down when they reach 80 years old.

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