World Aquatics launches US$10 million post-career compensation fund for aquatic athletes

SINGAPORE – Athletes who do well enough to win prize money at World Aquatics events will benefit from its new US$10 million (S$12.9 million) post-career compensation fund that is aimed at helping them cope with the transition into a new phase of life.

World Aquatics is the first international federation to introduce such a plan for its athletes, said its president Husain Al-Musallam when unveiling the initiative at the World Aquatics General Congress in Singapore on July 29.

He said: “We speak a lot about what we can do to support athletes during their careers, but what about after they retire from competing?

“We know that athletes face real challenges once their careers come to an end – it’s a major change in their lives and often in their income too.

“Our development team is already providing advice and support to help athletes plan for life after sport, but we want to do more. We want to support them financially as well.”

On July 30, World Aquatics executive director Brent Nowicki gave details of the mechanism in a media session on the sidelines of the World Aquatics Championships (WCH).

Following a healthy 2024 financial report of US$107.83 million in revenue, US$51.17 million in net surplus as total assets increased to US$241.51 million, World Aquatics will make the initial US$10 million contribution to the post-career compensation fund and add US$1 million to US$2 million per year afterwards, in addition to monies raised from donors and sponsors.

Athletes across swimming, open water swimming, artistic swimming, diving, high diving and water polo need to compete at a certain number of their respective World Cups and world championships in the four years before their retirement to be eligible, following which they will receive a percentage (for individual events) or a fixed sum (for team sports) of their prize earnings at these events.

Consideration for the fund has begun from this year’s World Cups, with the details to be shared with the national federations.

Nowicki added that the programme was borne out of “a sense of concern and obligation” to help athletes beyond their competitive careers, as well as the hope of consistent participation from top athletes in their events.

He said: “A lot of the athletes we spoke to said that the hardest point was that year after they retired. That’s when they needed some kind of parachute, and they felt like it wasn’t there for them.”

Asked if this fund would only help the rich get richer, he noted that this concern had been discussed, and tweaks could still be made to this pilot project.

He said: “It’s something to think about. There are athletes who never earned any prize money... doing this for the love of it, and when they retire, their earnings go from zero to zero. There’s probably less of an impact than someone who maybe made a little bit of prize money and all of a sudden, there’s nothing.

“I think we need to protect those athletes who are just getting by, but not getting rich. And when the time comes (to retire), it’s a hard hit. That’s where I think the sweet spot in this is, the middle tier.”

The athlete-centric conversation at the media session later moved on to the other end of the age spectrum, as to whether a pre-teen like China’s Yu Zidi should be participating at international meets.

According to World Aquatics regulations, the minimum age for swimmers competing at the Olympics and WCH is 14 on Dec 31 in the year of competition, the same for the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships, although younger athletes may participate if they have hit at least the “B” standard entry time.

The age limit was imposed following the debate over Bahrain’s 10-year-old Alzain Tareq swimming at the 2015 WCH.

Yu, who turns 13 in October, made the “A” cut of the women’s 200m butterfly and 200m and 400m individual medley, and was 0.06sec away

from winning bronze in the 200m medley on July 28

.

But she had also said in an earlier interview: “I almost gave up swimming before the national championships last year due to exhaustion from training and studies.”

This led some reporters to raise concerns whether such young swimmers should be put through such a regimen of altitude training and daily 10km pool workouts.

Calling Yu a generational talent, Nowicki said: “To be frank, I didn’t think I would be having to answer the question... our ‘A’ standards are so tight, I didn’t think that potentially a 12-year-old could have such a time.

“But I feel quite good about where we are with our safeguarding approach in our sport, I think the Aquatics Integrity Unit does a really good job. They are actively engaged and involved in it.

“We use athletes, not necessarily staff, to communicate with athletes and be there for athletes. So I feel we are taking really good measures to be available for athletes or families who believe there’s a cause of concern... We feel like we are positioned to address them.”

Seemingly counter-intuitively, World Aquatics rules also prevent athletes under age 14 from owning world junior records.

Nowicki committed to looking into these issues, adding: “We are dealing with something that’s so exceptional that no one’s ever contemplated. It’s exposed a question that needs to be answered. It takes these scenarios for us to have to look and rethink interpretations of things.

“All things equal, she’s a generational talent. I certainly don’t want to rush the judgment on things because it’s not fair for her if she is just ruled out (without a proper review).”