Olympic Champion Adam Peaty Defies FINA And Backs International Swimming League

Olympic and five-time World Champion British Swimmer Adam Peaty has announced his official role as an Ambassador for the International Swimming League, an arrangement contradicted by Fina. He signed the ambassador agreement with Konstantin Grigorishin, Russian billionaire and maker of ISL, at a media conference in London this afternoon to announce the establishment of their London team.

                             

Peaty is a world-record holder in the 50-metre and 100m breaststroke and is geared up to compete in the ISL, a new format that is opposed by Fina. They have even threatened that they will ban any athlete that takes part in the ISL.

 

The ISL will be running from October to December this year, to dodge any clashes with Fina World Championships in summers, including a London leg in November. ISL will incorporate 8 groups, each consisting of 32 competitors, competing in 6 meets all around and at last, contending two best groups from Europe and US achieving last in Las Vegas.

 

Grigorishin has already invested 20 million dollars to the group this season, and around 7 million dollars on cash prize (as opposed to Fina's champion series of 4 million dollars). The income will be 50-50 between group and competitors, something Adam Peaty sees as progressive.

 

Peaty, compared the format to Davis Cup, road cycling and F1, and has joined Team London along with British team-mate James Guy and Australian world champions Kyle Chalmers, Cate and Bronte Campbell and Emma McKeon.

 

Peaty was never really worried about the ban and even pricked them to execute their threat in January. "I knew they couldn't, so I was poking the fire a bit. But that's me in a nutshell really, I'm not really scared of anyone", he said. "The sport hasn't been growing under Fina for the last 20 years because of greed, corruption, doping, and athletes aren't getting much for what their value is.", he added.

 

Peaty has urged Fina several times to take strict actions against doping. He feels that with ISL, they will grow, have a voice and be respected. The new format will also help him push boundaries and have new motivation to keep winning.

 

 

By:NehaMaheshwari

Content: https://swimindia.in/five-time-world-champion-adam-peaty-backs-the-international-swimming-league-defies-fina