CONSANAT — Confederación Sudamericana de Natación

What is CONSANAT?

CONSANAT, the Confederación Sudamericana de Natación — South American Swimming Confederation in the Union of International Associations’ yearbook entry^[4] — is the regional confederation of the national aquatics federations of South America. It is not a continental organisation in World Aquatics’ sense. The South American federations sit inside Panam Aquatics (PAQ), the continental organisation for the Americas, and the PAQ Constitution of 20 August 2023 defines PAQ’s Zone I as Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela, “operating as CONSANAT”.^[2]

Its sport is the whole aquatic family: the championships it has run, as listed on PAQ’s zone page, combine swimming, water polo, synchronized (now artistic) swimming, diving and open water.^[3] That is swimming, diving, water polo and artistic swimming, all governed worldwide by World Aquatics. No statute of CONSANAT itself could be retrieved, and its legal form could not be established from a primary source.

What does CONSANAT govern or do?

CONSANAT writes no technical rules of its own: the rules of swimming, diving, water polo, artistic swimming and open water applied in South America are World Aquatics’ rules, and the World Aquatics Constitution provides that its Constitution and Rules prevail over any continental organisation’s rules (Art. 11.2) — a hierarchy that binds PAQ and, through it, the zone.^[1] Anti-doping likewise rests with World Aquatics and the system described on the anti-doping page.

What CONSANAT does is run the South American level of competition. The PAQ zone page lists its championships of the late 2000s: the South American “First Force” (senior) championships in swimming, water polo, synchronized swimming, diving and open water in São Paulo in March 2008, a junior South American championship in the same disciplines in Mar del Plata in March–April 2009, and the senior edition of March 2010 in Copacabana and Medellín, held during the ODESUR Games.^[3] Continental competition for the whole Americas — the Panam Aquatics championships — is PAQ’s, not CONSANAT’s: PAQ lists the “Panam Aquatics Championships Medellin 2025” (13–25 May 2025) and the PanAm Aquatics Swimming Championships in Ibagué (8–12 July 2026) as its own events.^[7] National teams are selected by the national federations.

When was CONSANAT founded and where is it based?

The Union of International Associations, a directory of international bodies, gives CONSANAT’s founding year as 1929.^[4] No statute, history page or other primary record of the founding — its full date, place or founders — could be retrieved, so the year rests on that single directory entry.

The seat could not be confirmed. No statute was retrievable; the Union of International Associations’ profile shows Bogotá, Colombia, on its map, and gives the website consanat.com.^[4] PAQ’s zone page records the confederation’s 2014 Congress in Mar del Plata, Argentina, at which Juan Carlos Orihuela of Paraguay was elected President, and lists an executive committee for 2018–2022 with him as President.^[3] The Argentine federation’s report of October 2024 names Fernando Terrilli as “vicepresidente de la CONSANAT”;^[9] no full current list of officers could be retrieved.

No change of name is recorded in the sources retrieved; unlike the continental bodies, CONSANAT has kept the word “Natación” in its name.^[4]

How is CONSANAT recognised?

Not by World Aquatics directly. The World Aquatics Constitution, in force from 29 July 2025, names five Continental Organisations as “the only continental bodies formally recognized by the Bureau” (Art. 10.2) and adds: “Other than any Continental Organisation, no other zone, subregion or similar regional organization shall be recognized by World Aquatics” (Art. 10.3).^[1] CONSANAT’s standing therefore runs through Panam Aquatics, which its constitution describes as “a sports organization recognized by World Aquatics (AQUA)” and which is incorporated as a public benefit corporation in Indiana, USA (Art. 1).^[2]

Within PAQ, Article 6 divides the Americas into five zones and attaches CONSANAT to Zone I by name; Article 30 gives each zone two seats — one man, one woman — on PAQ’s twelve-member Executive Committee.^[2] That is the whole of its formal place in the aquatics hierarchy. It holds no IOC recognition. In the South American multi-sport system, the Union of International Associations records CONSANAT as a member of ACODESU, the association of South American sports confederations, and as affiliated to the South American Sports Organization, ODESUR.^[4] That rests on a single directory entry; ODESUR’s own site, as retrieved, does not name it.^[6]

What does CONSANAT organise?

Its events are the South American championships in the aquatic disciplines, held at senior (“First Force”, in the English of PAQ’s zone page) and junior level; PAQ’s zone page documents the 2008 São Paulo, 2009 Mar del Plata (junior) and 2010 Copacabana–Medellín editions, each combining swimming, water polo, synchronized swimming, diving and open water.^[3] The senior swimming events of that series are the South American Swimming Championships. Argentina’s national government reported the “Campeonato Sudamericano de Deportes Acuáticos Buenos Aires 2021”, from 16 to 28 March 2021 in swimming, artistic swimming, water polo and diving, with open water in Mar del Plata, as organised by CONSANAT and the Argentine federation, CADDA.^[5] Its calendar extends to masters swimming: CADDA’s report of the South American Masters Championships in Buenos Aires, which began on 15 October 2024 at Parque Roca, presents them as CONSANAT’s.^[9] No primary record of the first edition, or of a senior edition after 2021 or the next scheduled one, could be retrieved.

Aquatics is also on the programme of the South American Games, which are ODESUR’s. The XIII South American Games, held in Santa Fe, Rosario and Rafaela, Argentina, from 12 to 26 September 2026, included swimming, open water, artistic swimming, diving and water polo.^[8] CONSANAT’s technical role in those Games could not be confirmed from a primary source. Above the zone, Panam Aquatics lists the Americas-wide championships and the Junior Pan American Games (Asunción, 9–23 August 2025) among its own events.^[7]

Who are its members?

The member federations are those of the twelve countries the PAQ Constitution assigns to Zone I: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.^[2] PAQ’s zone page lists the same twelve.^[3] World Aquatics recognises only one national body per country as a member (Art. 5.2);^[1] CONSANAT groups the bodies of these twelve countries at regional level, within the zone structure of Panam Aquatics.

Guyana and Suriname are in Zone I rather than in the Caribbean zones. French Guiana does not appear in Zone I. As a zone, the members share in PAQ’s governance: under Article 32 of its constitution, “The President and Secretary shall not be from the same Zone”.^[2] Among the members are Brazil’s CBDA, Argentina’s CADDA, Colombia’s FECNA and Venezuela’s FEVEDA.