This article was originally shared through the daily WSCA (World Swim Coaches Association) email on Monday March 9, 2015.  It has been added here in it's full unedited format. 

I have listened to the comments by many credible and professional experts on their view about the FINA organisation. These are comments from people who have greater credentials, knowledge and experience than I do. One cannot be more impressed with those who are speaking out.

Before making my observations it is important for me to acknowledge that history will indicate that FINA has achieved much good for all concerned in its long history. However, like all businesses and organisations, the system unless it faces modernisation of strategies within the complexities of improvement or change is soon left with its stakeholders and customers struggling to understand the future and opportunity for the organisation to maintain its strength.

The corporate world, the armed forces and the sporting world have learnt that continual evolution and a requirement for improvement, visionary leadership and change is tied to constant evaluation. Audits, reviews and performance analyses all play a part in designing strategies and success for their future and hopefully successful operation.

In sport, and in particular Olympic sport, every successful nation has the opportunity to review and address improvement every four years as a consequence of their own Olympic performance in terms of successful strategies and organisation. At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia learnt across many sports that change was happening and coming in many different formats. The sports which had continued success on the international scene from Australia as a result of the Sydney Olympics learnt that sport must become an entertainment industry as much as a sporting culture and organisation.

The challenge, of course, for sports that learnt this lesson was to stay true to their core values while addressing improvements and change. This is not an easy thing to do. Many a head coach has lost their position due to the perceived under-achievement of their nation's Olympic team. However, very few national CEOs have endured the same outcome. Only the head coach is held accountable and responsible, quite often for environmental or leadership issues beyond their control.

Society across all facets of life has changed significantly in the last 15 years. The coaching and management of young men and women has had to address both cultural and social change in the modernisation of applied athlete management and technical coaching of the individual. The 4-year audit of the Olympic Games shows that the performance and accurate decision making is a consequence of a very complex period of change and improvement.

Not just our sport of Swimming, but many sports have moved forward with new technology and application. At least partly because of this strategy, I have been involved with coaching successful athletes at every Olympic Games since 1976. In doing this, no two Olympic Games have ever been the same and no two athletes have been the same. The coach must be visionary in addressing performance needs and apply strategies of improvement from one Olympics to the next. For young coaches in today's world, they are going to require enormous amounts of assistance and support in their vision of what the successful coach and winning athlete look like in 2024. It certainly will not resemble what we see in today's world.

Given the facts and opinions that have been published recently, it certainly would not give the young coach or the winning athlete a feeling of confidence that we are being led into the future by an organisation that can be trusted or respected. In my younger years of coaching, particularly towards the end of the 70s and early 80s, we were told that we were simply not good enough as coaches as the East Germans were dominating Swimming and not long after, the Chinese did the same.

The leadership of FINA did little to assist and support coaches through this era of cheating and, unfortunately, it must be said that it was on the watch of FINA's leadership that this was allowed to occur. In recent times, the cheating swimsuits were not only approved but it appears that in the opinion of many were encouraged by FINA. We have seen a decrease in standards in terms of penalties incurred due to drug testing, and according to those with the knowledge many problems are foreseen with Kazan and its drug testing facilities.

I am not going to highlight all the negatives and complaints that I continually hear about FINA, as we all in the coaching world are well aware of the failures in recent times, but for some of us who have been in the sport a long time we try to ignore the failures and highlight the great things FINA has achieved in earlier times--and we note the good work that is still done by officials and others in the organisation of FINA events.

However, it is very clear that many national bodies will bow to FINA in fear of retribution, regardless of its frequency of failure. I have many good friends in FINA and I know that they are good people, but they are all comfortable in their positions. Perhaps it is time for FINA to have an independent, external, in-depth review and audit of its operation across all its sections of operational authority.

I feel certain that the members of the FINA Bureau want to hold their heads high and be respected by the Swimming fraternity, clients and stakeholders.  However, it is very clear that they currently face ridicule and lack of respect due to poor decision-making and inaccurate policies for swimmers and coaches on the world scene. Certainly, it can be argued that it is time for this review and that we need more practical and applied people with historical success to be on the FINA Bureau.

It is impossible for anyone to ignore the documentary recently completed regarding drug cheating and Russian sports, including a link to Swimming at a time when Russia's doping count is considered the highest in our sport.

Is it time for Swimming which has little or no relativity to Water Polo, Diving or Synchronised Swimming to have its own world governing body? I am sure these three other sports would also like to have their own world governing body.

In my view and from opinions that I hear from all my travels, there is the question of "repair or replace"? Before this decision can be made, a complete overhaul and review of the organisation must be carried out. The findings of this in-depth, transparent and independent audit and review can then determine the question whether to repair FINA or replace it.

Many like myself would greatly like to see FINA evolve and make the necessary improvements and changes so that it truly can become the world-leading body for the sport of Swimming. Should this not be possible, then I believe the swimming world will dictate and demand that consensus, consultation and negotiation on all technical matters for world Swimming should be handled by a different organisation. This would alleviate the concerns and opinions of many who are concerned about the leadership and process of FINA as it now stands.

I would be pleased to hear from coaches similar in experience and age to me express their views in order to support the successful future of our sport. The new generation of coaches and swimmers deserve this commitment from FINA to improve and modernise itself.

I am happy to accept the majority vote on this issue but of all the countries and coaches that I currently visit, there can be no question that FINA has lost much ground and respect. FINA can reverse this negative perception of many by having the independent review/audit conducted by a competent and highly recognized company in this field.

The stakeholders and clients of the sport of Swimming throughout the world have earned the right and deserve the opportunity to have an inclusive, transparent and strong world governing body. It would certainly seem, given all the complaints, that this is not the current situation. Perhaps it is time for the needs of the athletes and the coaches to be given what they deserve, and perhaps the "use by" date for FINA has come and gone?