Greek water polo champ Margarita Plevritou was among the athletes elected to the world swimming body's Athletes’ Committee for the 2022-2026 period, following a ceremony on the sidelines of the 19th FINA World Championships Budapest 2022.
The gender and discipline-balanced Athletes’ Committee, made up of athletes from swimming, diving, high diving, water polo, artistic swimming and open water swimming, will play a major role in ensuring that all voices at the heart of aquatics are heard and represented equally.
“Athletes are the heartbeat of aquatics. There is no sport without athletes. This is why I am so proud to be part of these historic elections today. With equal gender representation and athletes from all six continents across all disciplines, I have no doubt that those elected will strengthen and promote the athletes’ voice for the benefit of the entire aquatics community,” said FINA President Husain Al-Musallam.
“Today marks another significant step forward for both FINA and all aquatics athletes. The Athletes’ Committee will act as a critical link between athletes and FINA. Having the athlete community choose those who represent them in important decisions is critical for the future development of our beloved sport,” said the new FINA Athletes' Committee Chair Alia Atkinson.
Plevritou was was named 2018/19 Most Valuable Player of the A1 Ethniki league in Greece.
In 2011 she and her younger sisters Eleftheria and Vasiliki left their hometown of Thessaloniki, Greece, to join Olympiacos Piraeus. She says the siblings enjoy a good relationship inside and outside of the sport. "I am quite strict with myself and with the girls. Whatever happens in the pool stays in the pool. Certainly there is competition in the water, but beyond that if one sees something that needs to be corrected they will say so. We help each other. We have a very good relationship. We are together 24 hours a day, both at home and in the pool together. We are very attached. Our dad always told us to do sports. It was something he liked very much, he liked to watch all sports. So the competitive bug kind of grew in us as well."
During the ceremony, Alia Atkinson (JAM) and Jack Laugher (GBR) were confirmed as the new FINA Athletes' Committee Chair and Vice-Chair respectively. The full elected FINA Athletes’ Committee for the 2022-2026 period is as follows:
FINA Athletes’ Committee Chair - Alia Atkinson (JAM)
FINA Athletes’ Committee Vice-Chair - Jack Laugher (GBR)
Artistic Swimming
Nehal Saafan
(EGY)
Bill May
(USA)
Diving
Maria Polyakova
(RUS)
High Diving
Anna Bader
(GER)
Alain Kohl
(LUX)
Open Water
Ana Marcela Cunha
(BRA)
Ferry Weertman
(NED)
Swimming
Therese Alshammar
(SWE)
Shane Ryan
(IRL)
Siobhan Bernadette Haughey
(HKG)
Dmitriy Balandin
(KAZ)
Jessica Hansen
(AUS)
Ryan Pini
(PNG)
Jamila Nsibambi Lunkuse
(UGA)
Matthew Sates
(RSA)
Dylan Carter
(TTO)
Water Polo
Margarita Plevritou
(GRE)
Felipe Perrone Rocha
(ESP)
