World Aquatics announces centre of excellence and regional office in Bahrain

February 7, 2023

World Aquatics and the Bahrain Olympic Committee has announced plans to create a new centre of excellence for aquatic sports in the Arabian Gulf Kingdom of Bahrain, in partnership with GFH Financial Group and the Bahrain Swimming Association.

The partnership will see World Aquatics establish the centre at the University of Technology Bahrain. World Aquatics’ elite athletes will have access to the centre of excellence, enabling them to enhance their training opportunities. Development athletes will also use the new facility, receiving on-site coaching and educational support through World Aquatics’ development programs.

Announcing the development, World Aquatics President, Husain Al-Musallam stated “I am extremely excited by this partnership with Bahrain. Our bold plans for a centre of excellence here will serve as an example to the world.

“Our high-performance athletes are at their best when they can benefit from the right mix of facilities, coaching and sports science. World Aquatics is determined to ensure that this mix is available to athletes from all our national federations. And we are delighted to include an educational component with the help of the University of Technology Bahrain.

“Aquatic sports are universally important. Both the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the World Aquatics Championships - Budapest 2022 saw over 180 nations represented. We are grateful to Bahrain and to the hosts of our other development centres for their help in ensuring aquatics athletes everywhere have the chance to fulfil their true potential.”

World Aquatics currently has operating centres of excellence in Thanyapura in Phuket, Thailand; Dakar in Senegal; Cape Town in South Africa and Davie in Florida, USA.

The new plans announced today for Bahrain also include new pools capable of hosting events in five of the six World Aquatics sports: swimming, water polo, artistic swimming, diving, and high diving. The sixth sport, open water swimming, is already well-served from Bahrain’s beaches.

Bahrain Olympic Committee President, Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa “with an ever-increasing diversity of partnerships, Bahrain continues to be one of the leading sports hubs in the world. We have a very clear understanding of the value of aquatic sports.

“And we are excited to contribute to the future of World Aquatics, not just for Bahrain but for our region and the world. We look forward to hosting leading aquatics athletes from different nations, and to help them achieve their sporting dreams, both as development athletes and as participants in World Aquatics competitions.”

The new World Aquatics centre of excellence, based at the Box Park campus of the University of Technology Bahrain, will also serve as the new training base for the Bahrain Swimming Association. In addition, World Aquatics will open a regional office in Bahrain.

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