FINA announced on April 9, 2006 that Dubai had defeated the only other bidder Istanbul, Turkey, 11 votes to 10, after a meeting of the FINA Bureau in Shanghai, China.
The USA topped the medal standings with a total of 25 medals. A total of 57 Championship Records, and 4 World Records were set. American Ryan Lochte and Spaniard Mireia Belmonte were named swimmers of the competition. Lochte became the first individual ever to win 7 medals at a Short Course Worlds, and became the first individual to swim a World Record since suits-rule changes went into effect in January 2010. Belmonte won a total of four medals, tied for the most with American Rebecca Soni.
Participating nations
The entry list released on the FINA website before the championships contained 153 countries.[1]
At the time of the event, Israel and the United Arab Emirates had no diplomatic relations; however, UAE officials said they would issue visas to the Israeli delegation attending the competition. As such, the Israeli delegation was eventually let into the country and were able to get to the Championships before racing actually started, but it was not without difficulties and several delays. Among the reported issue were that the Israelis were not issued visas nor were their passports stamped, and their arrival was delayed to just before competition started.[5][6]