Proposed constitutional amendments submitted by the FINA Bureau ahead of an Extraordinary Congress in Kazan in July include deletion of a rule setting the maximum age of elected FINA members, including the President.

At present this rule states that the maximum age of elected Bureau members "must be no more than eighty (80) years in the year of the election to the FINA Bureau".

Maglione's current term, his second, runs until 2017 when he will be 81.

Should the proposed change be adopted, the Uruguayan - who was this month nominated to complete the late Mario Vázquez Raña's final term as President of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) - would be able to contemplate running for a third and final term as FINA head until 2021.

Among other proposed amendments for the FINA Congress, to be held just ahead of the World Championships in the same Russian city, is the creation of a powerful new post of first vice-president.

The duties of this new post would include representing FINA in the absence of the President at "activities requiring the presence of the highest FINA authority".

Since Maglione, an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member for 19 years, will reach the age limit for full IOC membership on November 14 this year, this raises the question of whether the first vice-president would be the natural representative of the FINA President on IOC matters from next year.

This, in turn, raises the question of whether the new FINA first vice-president would become a likely candidate for rapid ascension to full IOC membership.

Under the Bureau's proposals, the new man would be elected by the Extraordinary Congress in Kazan "from among the five vice-presidents".

South African IOC member Sam Ramsamy is one of five FINA vice-presidents at the moment ©Getty Images

One of these, South Africa's 77-year-old Sam Ramsamy, is already an IOC member.

The others are: Kuwait's Husain Al Mussalam, viewed by some as favourite for elevation, Tamas Gyarfas of Hungary, Fiji's Dennis Miller and Dale Neuburger of the United States.

Under the Bureau's proposals, the five vice-presidents "shall propose to the Congress one candidate for the position of the First Vice President from among themselves".

The candidate would then be approved by simple majority, although "if the candidate does not receive the required votes, the vice presidents shall present another candidate to the Congress".

At the General Congress in 2017, a new FINA structure is to be presented for approval, with the first vice president "fully" replacing the position of FINA honorary secretary.

Among other proposed changes, the FINA Executive Committee would be expanded from five to eight members via inclusion of all vice-presidents.

FINA executive director Cornel Marculescu would, meanwhile, take over from the President responsibility for "negotiating or overseeing the negotiation of all major contracts on behalf of FINA in consultation with the members of the Executive".

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