Those of you following USA Swimming Nationals will know that several swimmers were disqualified in the 400 IM for violating the "Lochte Rule." Essentially this rule was FINAs response to something Ryan Lochte did at 2015 Worlds. At that competition Lochte kicked on his back off the wall on the free leg of the 200 IM before rotating around, surfacing on his stomach and completing the free leg normally. Lochte wasn't DQ'd for doing this, but FINA quickly reacted and issued a statement that going forward this would not be allowed. FINAs stance is that leaving the wall on one's back constitutes swimming backstroke and the rules for IMs and medley relays state that the fourth leg must be swum in a style not previously swum.
This seems fair enough until you realize that swimmers are taught to push off on their backs on a freestyle flip turn. So how far is too far to be on your back? By the letter of the law if your feet leave the wall while you are past vertical toward your back you should be DQ'd.
I think there are two major problems with this rule. The first is that it becomes a very difficult judgment call for the turn judge and this leads to uneven enforcement. The second is that it requires swimmers to use a different turn technique for freestyle during an IM event versus a normal free event. As we all know, during a race muscle memory takes over.
In my opinion the current rule is a bad rule, but the solution to this is simple. Just remove the wording that the fourth leg needs to be a style different than the first three legs. Almost everyone that wants to competitive will still swim what all of us would consider to be "freestyle" anyway, and if someone really wants repeat one of the other strokes who really cares? With this rule change the two problems I stated above go away.
this rule once again shows the complete and utter ineptitude and stupidity of fina.
1st we had the kobishie rule to ALLOW the underwater dolphin kick on *** stroke because they didnt want to have to enforce the rule and DQ the world record holder and olympic champion.
yeah maybe he wouldnt have that record and gold if he has swam it legally in the 1st place!
then to top it off, the london olympic gold medalist publicly says he took 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! dolphin kicks!!!
because you know, if 1 is legal then maybe i can take 3 and get away with it.
a local friend and awesome coach from austin swim club said of his bronze medal - i only took 1 dolphin kick and and am proud of my accomplishment. that's right brandon...you got 3rd because you only took the legal 1 dolphin kick.
then the non-swimming fina members make the opposite type of rule...lets dq lochte because nobody can beat him.
now, to be fair. since forever the last leg of the IM has always been "a stroke not previously swum". this is true.
HOWEVER!!! if being on your back is a dq for freestyle, should not being on your front for backstroke be a dq as well?
i mean in the 100 and 200 backstroke you get to roll onto your front and take 1 freestyle pull...how is that BACKstroke if you are on your ***?
HOW is doing any dolphin kicks part of *** stroke?
oh oh can we allow 1 arm butterfly? ya know 1 arm and then the other arm say in diametrically opposed fashion?
and while we are on rules...why is it super suits were ever allowed? oh did you like the big payout speedo gave you?
well right up until they gave you another pig payout to have them banned because they didnt make the better suit?
the only bigger joke in sports tham fina...is fifa
i mean in the 100 and 200 backstroke you get to roll onto your front and take 1 freestyle pull...how is that BACKstroke if you are on your ***?
Of course, as I'm sure you remember, we were not allowed to do that for the longest time (they changed that rule after I graduated from college). Since I wasn't swimming competitively when the rule was changed, I was never really sure why they did it. Maybe because of difficulty in judging the cross-over turn? But they still have that turn in IM...
I've always thought that, if they are going to allow freestyle turns in back, then they may as well allow us to dive off the blocks instead of use the traditional backstroke starts. There really is nothing worse than starting your race by slipping badly on the start in backstroke, and it can happen to anyone.
well at a few meets now...there is a "ledge" for back stroke starts. ah but not ALL meets...just some!
just like some meets have the "wedge" blocks and some dont
but to point more to the stupidity of fina....the underwater cameras cannot be used to DQ someone...no, just to confirm it?
wait if you cannot DQ them by the camera, why are you using it at all?
oh i cannot see correctly from the deck so i need to look in the water...but i cant look in the water in the 1st place?
and why is it that there is only 1 judge on a side except at the really big meets and then its 1 per lane?
are you not capable of looking at the underwater video? oh wait...thats only after the on deck calls the DQ. which we now need 8 of. and that 1 judge per lane seems blind to THREE (3) dolphin kicks in a single *** stroke turn!!!
if BACKstroke includes swimming on your ***....what exactly is legal on the 4th leg of an IM? you cannot swim on your back and since backstroke includes swimming on your ***? is truely only SIDEstroke allowed?
if BACKstroke includes swimming on your ***....what exactly is legal on the 4th leg of an IM? you cannot swim on your back and since backstroke includes swimming on your ***? is truely only SIDEstroke allowed?
Perhaps they should change the wording to front crawl, since that is what "freestyle" tends to be, then they can define the stroke, and the turn. While they're at it, they could change the rule that front crawl requires an open turn to make sure that the swimmer is NEVER on their back during that leg of the race. And take out any dolphin kicks, because that is butterfly. Then in a 10-20 years, the commentaters can have a field day speculating why the current IM records are still standing.
well just look at what mens records have been broken lately:
100 *** - a full body suit wasnt used to begin with and wasnt broken with
100 back - again not full body
200im - again not full body broken by same guy by just 0.02
1500 - by the doper who then couldnt make the finals at the olympics ... hmmm wonder why? no hemoglobin additives yang?
and i think thats it
so the only fully body suit record broken was done by a known doper
had to add 200 *** - again not full body suit
www.fina.org/.../wr_50m_mar_20_2017.pdf
but since "crawl" isnt defined anywhere in the rule book, but freestyle is, a *new* section on crawl would have to be added that would basically be the same as freestyle but you cannot go on your back during an IM or leg of the relay. thus you have added an entire section that can be summed up in 6 words -> "and a stroke not previously swum"
but since "crawl" isnt defined anywhere in the rule book, but freestyle is, a *new* section on crawl would have to be added that would basically be the same as freestyle but you cannot go on your back during an IM or leg of the relay. thus you have added an entire section that can be summed up in 6 words -> "and a stroke not previously swum"
Exactly and that's the reason I think all the problems would be solved just by removing the wording that the fourth leg needs to be a stroke not previously swum. If someone really wants to repeat fly as the fourth leg of an IM, go for it I say!
