U.S. Masters swimming appears to be the primary swimming organization (i.e., governing body) for adult swimmers, and there appears to be corresponding organizations in other countries. I assume, however, that there is at least one more organization for adult swimmers, particularly for elite swimmers (e.g., Michael Phelps, Ian Thorpe, Katie Hoff).
My basic question is what organization do these elite swimmers belong to? Besides the Olympics, what organization organizes meets for them? More than anything, I am curious about what other swimming organizations there are, and why Masters is not the organization of choice for elite swimmers? If the Olympics were not being held in the near future, would these elite swimmers be at the Long Course Nationals in Oregon?
Maybe this is a basic question, but I am trying to understand the swimming world a little better.
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Former Member
The short answer is that the top level organization for international swimming is FINA http://www.fina.org/ and then each country has a national organization under that. In the USA the organization for non-masters swimming is USA-Swimming http://www.usaswimming.org
It is slightly more complicated because FINA also governs other aquatic sports like diving, synchro and water-polo but USA-Swimming and USMS are the FINA-affiliated organizations that handle swimming in the USA. USA-Swimming handles things like the USA Olympic swimming team.
The short answer is that the top level organization for international swimming is FINA http://www.fina.org/ and then each country has a national organization under that. In the USA the organization for non-masters swimming is USA-Swimming http://www.usaswimming.org
It is slightly more complicated because FINA also governs other aquatic sports like diving, synchro and water-polo but USA-Swimming and USMS are the FINA-affiliated organizations that handle swimming in the USA. USA-Swimming handles things like the USA Olympic swimming team.
