International Rowing Federation
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| Sport | Rowing |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Worldwide |
| Abbreviation | FISA |
| Founded | June 25, 1892 |
| Headquarters | Lausanne, Switzerland |
| President | Jean-Christophe Rolland |
| Official website | |
| www |
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The Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Aviron (FISA) is the International Rowing Federation which is the governing body for international rowing. Its current president is Jean-Christophe Rolland who succeeded Denis Oswald at a ceremony held in Lucerne in July 2014.
The Rowing World Cup, World Rowing Championships, and other such competitions are overseen by this organization.
It was founded by rowing representatives from France, Switzerland, Belgium, Adriatica, and Italy on June 25, 1892 in Turin in response to the growing popularity of the sport of rowing, and the consequent need for uniformity of regulations over such matters as race lengths, boat composition, and weight classes. Also, at the time, betting on rowing was very popular, and the rowers or coaches were themselves often taking bets. Amateur status was unknown in the sport, a state of affairs which can lead to corruption, such as thrown races.
The first regatta organised by the newly formed FISA was the European Rowing Championships and was held in 1893 in Orta, Italy. It only had 10 entries in 3 events and no professional participants. By 1925, the 27th European Championships, held in Prague, included 24 entries in 10 different events.
FISA established its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1922.
FISA was the first international sports federation to join the Olympic movement. It has been on the Olympic program since the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. (The rowing events at the 1896 games were cancelled because of high winds). Each country that participates in rowing has a federation or governing body which belongs to the FISA Congress. These federations (of which there are currently 151) have overall control of what FISA does.
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