tech suits and Ian Thorpe

Hello, friends, I've been wondering where to post this message, so I might as well start here. There is a lot of talk about records broken in the tech suit era and some people want asterisks on those records. But no one talks about the suit which Thorpe wore in the 2000 Olympics. It sure looks like a wetsuit to me: media.olympics.com.au/.../20100707_101809625_ian_thorpe_wins_400m_20001.jpg Why aren't his victories and records tainted by the use of this suit? Does the rule change about suits help explain why he was unsuccessful in his comeback attempt? Any thoughts?
  • I swim every day at the Cal Berkeley pool. I like to tell the team swimmers and coaches that I can do something that no one on their team and no one who swam in the Olympics can do. I can swim 100 yards under my age. (age 64=1:04 for 100 yds) Haven't swum the race lately but went 59.9 at age 60. There are a reasonable number of people my age who are faster than me. Nathan Adrian, age 23, 100 yds: 41.08 (American Record) And then again there is Rowdy Gaines, age 52, 46.59 (USMS record). I should take back my original statement. Rowdy Gaines swam in the Olympics (3 golds in 1984).
  • I'm 63 and am a lot faster than I was at age 14.Of course I wasn't very good at age 14. The reason(right or wrong) that Thorpe's swim's aren't "tainted" is that the Arena suit was fabric and not the nearly impermeable material of the "shiny suits".
  • That's actually pretty impressive. I'm 42 and my times now are pretty comparable to my times at age 14. You must've been a fast 14 year old then! :bow: I'm comparing closer to my times at 15/16 currently. 14 years old I was still a little runt...yeah, I'm probably still a little runt. :)
  • I can't imagine how goggles add speed, however they do allow swimmers to train for many more hours.
  • You must've been a fast 14 year old then! :bow: I'm comparing closer to my times at 15/16 currently. No, not really that fast. Yeah, 15-16 is probably more accurate. I know the first time I broke 5:00 in the 500 free was the first dual meet of my sophomore year in HS, so I guess I was 15.
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Fina Rule SW10.8: "No swimmer shall be permitted to use or wear any device or swimsuit that may aid his/her speed, buoyancy or endurance during a competition." I don't know what is more embarrassing: that FINA has had this rule for decades, and ignores it, or that the rest of the swim world remains largely mum about such a raging contradiction. Similarly, a gold medalist and world record holder explains to the public how and why he cheated to win. He confesses. He implicates his coach and other swimmers. There is incontrovertible documentary evidence of the violation. There is no doubt that the violation improved his results. Yet he keeps his record and medal. Would a swimmer also get to keep his record and medal if he explained to us afterward how he managed to take a performance-enhancing drug and avoid detection, or how he managed to slip on a non-approved suit while no one was looking prior to competition, or any other obvious performance-enhancing rule violation that he got away with? Apparently in swimming the statute of limitations on rules violations expires not long after official results are posted.
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Fina Rule SW10.8: "No swimmer shall be permitted to use or wear any device or swimsuit that may aid his/her speed, buoyancy or endurance during a competition." I accept that his is another topic, but many will admit that goggles aid speed. Perhaps they should be banned too, along with bodysuits?
  • I think if the suits were still around his "come back" would have been just as unsuccessful. His failure to earn his spot was probably timing, level of conditioning, and Australian media pressure
  • 5 or 6 seconds for a 100 meters! Wow! I had a TYR tech suit which I think saved me 2 seconds in a 100 yard race. Of course, every one in my heat had a tech suit on, so the final results wouldn't have been much different if we all had been wearing plain old speedos. This suit took me 45 minutes to put on. I wore it for all my races except for the distance ones at a four day meet (USMS short course championships 2009) and then it fell apart. If you are at that meet, you might remember seeing me. My suit was bright yellow.
  • IConsequently, life is thoroughly depressing, knowing I can't get anywhere near to my best times! Since my best times were swum when I was in college and I am now in my sixties, my goal now is to try to duplicate the times I swam when I was 14 years old. I plan on continuing to swim until I am going after my 10 and under times.
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