According to the court, the International Aquatics Association, now called World Aquatics, is under no obligation to assist its direct competitors.

A San Francisco court has ruled in favor of the International Aquatics Federation in a lawsuit that Katinka Hoszu and two American swimmers jointly sued in 2018 for violating US antitrust rules. World Aquatics (formerly FINA) announced the decision in its favor on Monday, at the same time stating that the federation is grateful that this is over for a long and uncertain period.

The three-time Olympic champion Hungarian swimmer and his two companions, Americans Tom Shields and Michael Andrew, have turned to court after the Italian Federation annulled the International Swimming League (ISL) competition they invented in Turin because it was not going to comply. International Federation rules, no return and before that, FINA threatened athletes participating in the event with suspension.

Katinka Hoszu joined the International Swimming Federation

“Maybe someone only sees two seconds of my day when I’m nasty and in a bad mood, in which case, of course, my image is formed as if I’m an idiot — but I have to accept that,” said Katinka Hoszu, a gynecologist in Debrecen. She also talked about whether he was going to flee Hungary.

One month later, the IAAF indicated that swimmers could freely decide what type of competition they would participate in, however, it was willing to recognize achieved results and records only in the event of cooperation and prior authorization.

Despite FINA threats, Katinka Hoszu will swim in Turin

Katinka Hoszu only trained individually for two months, which is why she was so happy that she swam her best of the year in the 200 backstroke on the final day of the Swimming World Cup in Budapest. The three-time Olympic champion finished the run with four golds and two bronze medals as an individual, and also finished third in the 4×50 mixed relay.

The judge who made the decision in the case when announcing the verdict said: There is indeed more evidence that the International League has problems with ISL, but at the same time, in his opinion, this does not contradict antitrust law. The laws do not require that one party assist the other to become a competitor, they only prohibit unjustified trade restrictions.

The judge also found that the ISL was free to organize competitions at any time, and that FINA and its member federations do not have a monopoly on competitors.

“It is indisputable that elite swimmers were not contractually bound to the competitions organized by FINA, just as the evidence showed that the ISL was free to organize swimming competitions at the highest level without the cooperation of the federations,” the court’s reasoning read. They also noted that FINA did not attempt to punish or threaten the swimmers.

In a statement from World Aquatics, director Brent Nowicki wrote that this was an avoidable conflict, but that the association considers the matter closed and focused on the future.

Katinka Hoszu: Everything went without a hitch

After the home world championships, she was tired and could not properly prepare for the European Championships in Rome, – said Katinka Hoszu, who was not sure how to continue. On Saturday, she didn’t reach the final in her main event, the 400-meter medley, because two of her compatriots, Victoria Mihalivari-Farkas and Zsuzana Jacapos, who finished first and second respectively, were ahead of the three-time Olympic champion overall. .




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