FINA urges IOC to stage evening finals in Beijing

MELBOURNE, Oct 13 (Reuters) FINA, swimming's world governing body, has urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to stick with tradition and stage evening swimming finals at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

FINA chief executive Cornel Marculescu said his organisation remained in favour of evening finals and hoped the IOC would copy the format of world championship events.

American broadcaster NBC, which paid 3.55 billion dollars for the exclusive media rights to the 2000-2008 Games, has requested the switch to the morning in Beijing to coincide with prime-time viewing in the US.

''We have told them what is our preference which is finals in the evening as we will have at the world championships in Melbourne next March,'' Cornulescu told reporters in Melbourne at the draw for the event's water polo competition.

Several leading swimmers, including Dutch Olympic champion Pieter van den Hoogenband, have objected to morning finals, saying they would destroy the established training patterns of swimmers which are tailored to morning heats and evening finals.

''The decision is with the IOC executive board,'' Marculescu said. ''I have heard the IOC is consulting with the broadcasters on this but we don't know how it's going to be.

''The Olympic Games is not our product, we don't have a partner in the US television market.'' The IOC will decide on a format for the finals at a meeting in Kuwait on November. 29.

Marculescu also announced prize money would be awarded for the first time at a world championships, with a world record and gold medal earning a swimmer 37,000 dollars.

The 12th FINA world championships are to be held at a drop-in pool at the Rod Laver Arena and other venues in Melbourne from Mar 17-Apr 1, 2007.

REUTERS DH PM0624