Accompanied by the President of Generalitat of Catalunya Artur Más, the Mayor of Barcelona Xavier Trias, and the President of the Royal Spanish Swimming Federation Fernando Carpena, the FINA President Dr. Julio C. Maglione welcomed all the delegations in Barcelona and expressed his confidence in a great edition of the event. “The City of Barcelona and the Royal Spanish Swimming Federation must be warmly congratulated for their extraordinary effort and we have no doubt that this will be an outstanding competition”, considered Dr. Maglione.
“I extend my gratitude to all athletes, coaches and officials participating in Barcelona. The best representatives of our Aquatic disciplines, including for the first time High Diving, will enchant spectators and TV viewers and I wish all of them the best luck”, continued the FINA President. “As with the famous song of the 1992 Olympic Games here in this city, we can say that FINA and Barcelona are ‘Amics per sempre’”, he concluded.
Mr. Más then declared officially open this edition of the 15th FINA World Championships, starting on the first day of competition with Open Water (5km men and women), Synchro (Solo Technical final) and Diving (Women’s 3m springboard synchro).
ready to shine in Barcelona - credit: Andrea Staccioli/Insidefoto