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12th FINA World Championships

The 12th FINA World Championships triumphed in Melbourne from March 17 to April 1 2007. There were 14 world records broken and Melbourne surpassed the world record attendance target of 205,000, set in Barcelona in 2003, amassing a total of 219,317 attendances throughout the event.

The World Championships will be remembered for two outstanding athletes – American swimmer Michael Phelps and Australian golden girl, Libby Lenton. Michael Phelps claimed a phenomenal seven gold medals and Libby Lenton claimed three individual world champion titles and five gold medals.

Other standout performances included the Croatian men’s water polo team, China’s dominance of the dive pool with nine out of ten gold medals, Russia winning six synchronised swimming gold medals and Russian Larisa Ilchenko battling the elements to take a golden double in the women’s 5km and 10km open water swimming.

The FINA Cultural Festival brought a splash of culture to the sporting extravaganza and ignited Federation Square and Birrarung Marr in bursts of colour and action.

More than 180 performances and events featuring more than 500 artists from Australia and around the globe attracted almost 200,000 people to the festivities. Highlights included the explosive pyrotechnics of France’s Groupe F along the Yarra River and South Africa’s grooviest grannies the Mahotella Queens.

In true Victorian spirit, more than 2000 volunteers helped deliver the World Championships. Volunteers gave over 190,000 hours and worked across every facet of the event, including transport, media, spectator services and accreditation.

Water from the world record breaking Susie O’Neill pool also provided a welcome boost to the city’s parks and gardens courtesy of a 1.3 kilometre pipeline following the World Championships.

The 6.8 million litres of water used in the pools at Rod Laver Arena was shared between the Royal Botanic Gardens and trees and parks throughout the City of Melbourne, improving the environment of Melbourne’s green heritage.

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