I just got my new Swimming World and it said that FINA was looking at allowing a dolphin kick in the breaststroke pullout. Does anyone know the status of this?
The bottom line with any rule is it needs to be consistently enforceable. If swimmers can cheat--like by taking a dolphin kick on the breaststroke pullout--and the judges can't consistently catch this, then something needs to change. The easiest route seems to be to allow the previously illegal activity. I think the same thing happened with allowing the head to go underwater in ***. It was very difficult for the officials to judge whether someone's head was going under or not quite going under.
Maybe it's sort of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mentality, but I don't know a better solution. Unless judges are allowed to view underwater replays after the race, and I don't see this happening anytime soon!
The bottom line with any rule is it needs to be consistently enforceable. If swimmers can cheat--like by taking a dolphin kick on the breaststroke pullout--and the judges can't consistently catch this, then something needs to change. The easiest route seems to be to allow the previously illegal activity. I think the same thing happened with allowing the head to go underwater in ***. It was very difficult for the officials to judge whether someone's head was going under or not quite going under.
Maybe it's sort of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mentality, but I don't know a better solution. Unless judges are allowed to view underwater replays after the race, and I don't see this happening anytime soon!
