World Aquatics Day is an

international day Lists of holidays by various categorizations. Religious holidays Abrahamic holidays (Middle Eastern) Jewish holidays *Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread – 7 days of consumption of matzo with wine and avoidance of leavened foods ...

which recognises, and celebrates physical activity in

aquatic sports The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

. It was established by the organisation FINA, and takes place on the first weekend of July. This comes just before 19 July, which commemorates the founding of the federation in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, 1908. When the FINA Bureau held a meeting in 2016, an international world day of aquatics was established, in an effort to encourage people around the globe to take part in any form of exercise in

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

. This includes, but not limited to: swimming,

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

, high diving, artistic swimming,

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

, and

open water swimming Open water swimming is a swimming discipline which takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans, lakes, and rivers. The beginning of the modern age of open water human swimming, swimming is sometimes taken to be May 3, 1810, when L ...

,FINA Sports page
from the FINA website (www.fina.org); retrieved 2013-06-05. which are the six disciplines currently overseen by FINA. Aquatic organisations around the world organise activities and events to promote the positive wellbeing aquatic exercise can have. In 2020, due to the health crisis forcing many pools to close, organisations continued to promote aquatic sports with alternative dry land competitions.

External links

FINA's website - World Aquatics Day

References

World Aquatics Aquatics International observances Awareness days July observances Recurring events established in 2016 {{holiday-stub