The World Aquatics Bureau is the highest governing body of competitive aquatic sports that oversees open water swimming, diving, high diving, water polo, and pool swimming.
The World Aquatics Bureau consists of 39 members with its President elected by the Congress, 22 continental representatives and 16 at-large representatives from Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.
The World Aquatics Bureau very importantly organize, control, and manage all activities and all competitions for the five aquatic disciplines at the Olympic Games, Youth Olympic Games, World Championships and other global competitions.
Four people in the Bureau have ties – some quite strong – to the open water swimming community.
Mohamed Diop (World Aquatics bio here, shown above on right) is a Bureau member who represented Senegal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in the 50m and 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, and 200m individual medley. He previously won the 1986 Traversée à la nage Dakar-île de Gorée, a 5.2 km ocean swim from Dakar to Goree in Senegal.
Zouheir El Moufti is a Bureau member from Morocco who has been on the World Aquatics Technical Open Water Swimming Committee since 2013. A professor of physics and chemistry, El Moufti is the Secretary General of the Royal Moroccan Federation of Swimming.
Fernando Terrilli (MSF bio here, shown above on left) is a Bureau member from Argentina who served as a referee in the men’s and women’s Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in Tokyo and competed in at least 37 professional marathon swims between 1991 and 1997 including the 30 km Sylvan Lake Marathon, the 56.7 km Maratón Acuatíco Río Coronda, the 36.6 km Atlantic City Around the Island Swim, the 36 km Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli, the 40 km Traversée Internationale du lac St-Jean, the 88 km Maratón Hernandarias-Paraná, the 35 km Riviera Marathon, the 40 km Traversée Internationale du lac Memphrémagog, the 26 km Tapes Marathon, the 30 km Ohrid Swim Marathon, the 26 km Maratón Acuática Internacional Miramar-Mar del Plata, the 25 km Swim Across the Sound in the USA, and the 60 km Maratón Acuática Internacional Ciudad de Rosario.
John West (shown above in middle) is a Bureau member from New Zealand. who has been on the World Aquatics Technical Open Water Swimming Committee since 2009 and has officiated at the Olympic Games since 2012 and at the 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 World Championship events. He served in the lead official’s management role for the 2022 Budapest World Championships, 2023 Fukuoka World Championships, and 2024 Doha World Championships. He has also led FINA/AQUA Open Water Schools in Brazil, Canada, China, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Morocco, Namibia, Oman, Qatar, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia, and the UAE, and online sessions with Australia, North Macedonia, Egypt, Cyprus, and the Cayman Islands.
World Aquatics Bureau Members
Recently, the World Aquatics Bureau members for the 2025-2029 tenure were elected and selected. They include the following individuals:
- Husain Al Musallam, President
- Matthew Dunn, First Vice President
- António Silva, Second Vice President
- Dale Neuburger, Treasurer
- Maureen Croes, Vice President
- Yasser Mohamed Ibrahim Idris, Vice President
- Jihong Zhou, Vice President
- Brent Nowicki, Executive Director
- Khaleel Al Jabir, member
- Thauriya Ahmed Diria Bharmal, member
- Pernille Blume, member
- Dylan Carter, member
- Monica Amon Changanamuno, member
- Mohamed Diop, member
- Diana Haydee Geraldine Dominguez de Rolon, member
- Zouheir El Moufti, member
- Ana Fortin, member
- Kyriakos Giannopoulos, member
- Cheryl Gibson, member
- Otylia Jedrzeczak, member
- Digamber Vasant Kamati, member
- Sarah Keane, member
- Somsak Leeswadtrakul, member
- Shakhnoza Mirziyoeva, member
- Jace Naidoo, member
- Judy Otto, member
- Joo Hee Park, member
- Camelia Potec, member
- Mohsen Rezvani, member
- Dr. Donald Rukare, member
- Jorge Soto, member
- Daichi Suzuki, member
- Kwai Mae Tang, member
- Radhames Tavarez, member
- Fernando Terrilli, member
- Doreen Tiborcz, member
- Vanja Udonvičić, member
- Josip Varvodic, member
- John West, member
- Sándor Wladár, member
- Erkan Yalcin, member
- Daniel Gyurta, Budapest Headquarter Liaison
© 2025 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
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