Gwangju to host swimming competition to commemorate 2019 FINA World Championships

A competition commemorating the 18th FINA World Championships 2019 held in Gwangju is being held in two and a half years. The Korea Swimming Federation (KSF) said on Tuesday that the Gwangju Championships will be held from Dec. 18 to Dec. 24 at Nambu University in Gwangju. The Masters tournament will be held from Dec. 28 to Dec. 29, and the Elite tournament will be held for five days from Dec. 20.

At the 18th FINA World Championships, which were held from July 12 to July 28 in 2019, more than 7,500 athletes from 194 countries, participated in a variety of swimming events, including swimming, diving, high diving, artistic swimming, open-water swimming and water polo. Events such as high diving and open water, which were unfamiliar to domestic fans, drew great interest. The 2019 championships were praised as “low-cast, high-efficiency” competitions since it had a surplus of 15.9 billion won.

The competition had been scheduled to be held from last year as a legacy of the World Championships, but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With Korea kicking off “Living with COVID-19” scheme, the opening of the commemorative competition has been confirmed.

The swimming pool at the Nambu University, where the 2019 World Championships were held, is the only 3-meter pool in the country. It can be a good experience for athletes to compete in an actual competition there. There still remain issues to be solved for the successful hosting of the first commemorative competition, however, as the national swimming team will be participating in the FINA Short Course Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi from Dec. 16 to Dec. 21, and off- season training of professional swimming teams overlaps with the competition period.


Bae-Jung Kim wanted@donga.com