The 2007 World Aquatics Championships, or the XII FINA World Championships, were held in Melbourne, Australia from 17 March to 1 April 2007. The competition took place at three locations in central Melbourne: the
Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre
Melbourne Sports Centres - MSAC is an international sporting venue located in Albert Park, Victoria, Australia. The centre was opened on 24 July 1997 at a construction cost of A$65 million. The cost was funded by the State Government of Victo ...
Susie O'Neill
Susan O'Neill, (born 2 August 1973) is an Australian former competitive swimmer from Brisbane, Queensland, nicknamed "Madame Butterfly". She achieved eight Olympic Games medals during her swimming career.
Early life
Susan (Susie) O'Neill was ...
Pool (synchro and swimming).
A total of 2,158 athletes from 167 nations participated in the 2007 championships. The total number of spectators was more than 215,000, setting a new record attendance for the event.
FINA
FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...
President
Mustapha Larfaoui Mustapha Larfaoui (born 27 November 1932 in Algiers) is a former member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from Algeria.
Medals table
At the end of the competition, the medals table contained an entry for Tunisia, with one gold and one silver medal, both won by
Oussama Mellouli
Oussama "Ous" Mellouli ( ar, أسامة الملولي; born 16 February 1984) is a Tunisian swimmer who competes in the freestyle and medley events. He is a three-time Olympic medalist, is an African record holder, and trains with the USC Tro ...
. However, on 11 September 2007, the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its c ...
in Lausanne, Switzerland vacated these results imposing an 18-month competition ban on Mellouli, effective retroactively to 30 October 2006 for doping with
amphetamine
Amphetamine (contracted from alpha- methylphenethylamine) is a strong central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. It is also commonly used ...
.
Competition
Swimming
The Swimming competition comprised various events using all four strokes (Freestyle, Butterfly, Breaststroke and Backstroke) for men and women ranging in distance from 50 m up to 1500 m.
A total of 40 gold medals were available for the Championships. The swimming schedule took place over eight days during the second week of the Championships.
The Swimming events were held at the 15,000-seat Rod Laver Arena using a temporary pool.
Open water swimming
The open water swimming competition saw men and women competing in events over 5 km, 10 km and 25 km distances. Events were held at St Kilda Beach.
Synchronised swimming
The synchronised swimming competition featured a solo, a duet, and a team competition. There was also a combination routine, consisting of a mixture of the solo, duet and team routine. Events were held at the 15,000-seat Rod Laver Arena using a temporary pool.
Diving
The diving competition saw athletes competing for 10 gold medals. Athletes contested the 1 m and 3 m Springboard events, as well as the 10 m Platform as individuals. There were 3 m and 10 m synchronised events for men and women competing as a team. Events were held at the indoor diving pool at the
Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre
Melbourne Sports Centres - MSAC is an international sporting venue located in Albert Park, Victoria, Australia. The centre was opened on 24 July 1997 at a construction cost of A$65 million. The cost was funded by the State Government of Victo ...
.
Water polo
The water polo competition featured 16 men's teams and 16 women's teams. For each of the two tournaments, a round robin competition took place in four divisions, each with four teams, with the two highest placed teams moving through the medal rounds.
The water polo tournaments were held at the 9,000-seat outdoor pool at the
Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre
Melbourne Sports Centres - MSAC is an international sporting venue located in Albert Park, Victoria, Australia. The centre was opened on 24 July 1997 at a construction cost of A$65 million. The cost was funded by the State Government of Victo ...
, which was constructed for the
2006 Commonwealth Games
The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...
swimming competition.
The water polo competition also served as the qualifying tournament for the
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...
in
Beijing
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Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 2 ...
.
Bidding process
Melbourne was awarded the right to host the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships by the FINA Bureau in Barcelona, Spain on 12 July 2003. Melbourne's bid defeated the bid by Dubai, UAE by a vote of 15 to 6.