With less than 500 days to go before the Paris 2024 Games, the International Swimming Federation (World Aquatics, formerly FINA) has decided to tighten up its rules on changes of nationality. A swimmer is now required to prove that he or she has resided in a country for at least three years before being able to wear its colours in competition. The previous rule required only one year of residence. The same three-year period is also required between the last competition for the country of birth and the first with the new country of adoption. The international body’s decision to tighten its rules is not a coincidence. It comes just over a year before the Paris 2024 Games, where the question of the participation of Russian and Belarusian swimmers has still not been resolved. With its new rules, World Aquatics has ruled out any risk of seeing an increase in the number of requests to change the nationalities of athletes from the two countries at war with Ukraine.
