Australian swimming in crisis as emergency meeting seeks to curtail Russia-like ban

Australian swimmers are facing the humiliating prospect of competing under a neutral flag as a dispute between World Aquatics and Swimming Australia could see the nation expelled from the world championships.

Just months after a historic golden performance in Paris, Swimming Australia is scrambling to resolve a governance dispute with the world body with crisis talks being held in Sydney next week.

The issue stems from Australia’s failure to implement reforms that were agreed to as part of a new constitution adopted in 2023.

Swimming Australia had promised to expand its voting members from nine to 21 and include more women in top positions and give guaranteed board positions to an independent swimmer’s committee representative and World Aquatics vice-president Matt Dunn.

However, these changes have not yet been made despite repeated warnings from the world body.

Now Australian swimmers face the prospect of competing under a neutral flag with no anthems as Russian and Belarusian current athletes do due to the former country’s invasion of Ukraine.

CEO of Simming Australia Rob Woodhouse says he is committed to implementing change but will ask for more time from the governing body.

“There may well be a bit of give and take on that but I’d be surprised if it wasn’t acceptable, or a variation of it, because it does meet with all the requirements,” Woodhouse said.

“We want to work with them and we certainly want to work with the Australian Sports Commission as well and work out a way forward because no one wins if it goes down the path of a stabilisation committee or suspension or anything like that.

“I guess that threat, if you like, or possibility, is on the table. We’re well aware of that but we are confident that what is being put forward does have the support of the voting members and meets the constitutional requirements.”

Last month, the federal government announced that Australian sporting organisations need to have an equal split of men and women on their boards from 2027 or risk having funding withheld.

“I think the member vote is the main one, but certainly from a gender equity point of view that would be a concern of World Aquatics,” Woodhouse said.

“It definitely is with the Sports Commission and in our Constitution we have to have a minimum 40%, so our immediate goal is to get to that and I’m confident we will.

“We know what the deadlines were, because they’re very clear in the Constitution to have this change brought in by the end of April.

“That deadline has clearly been missed so that’s one of the main concerns of World Aquatics.”

However, an insider says they hold fears World Aquatics will accept the proposals given the repeated delays.

“If it’s not resolved on Monday, the next step will be suspension and the implementation of a stabilisation committee,” they said.

“They are used to babysitting some countries, but they don’t expect to have to babysit member countries like Australia so the messaging will be crystal clear. They want a resolution on Monday.”

Should the two parties fail to reach a deal the outcome could be dire with the sport’s world governing body having the authority to suspend Australia’s membership, appoint a stabilisation committee to effectively run the sport and even freeze their accounts.

They could also be stripped of government funding.

While athlete won’t be banned from competing at events, they could be bound by the same rules that apply to Russians, meaning they can’t swim in their national colours or have the national flag or anthem displayed at medal presentations.

“We don’t know what the outcome will be,” Woodhouse said.

“But I’m confident whatever the outcome will be, we’re very much business as usual. For me, the priorities are about the athletes and the coaches and that high performance system.”