Rules Corner

In answer to the question from Blackbeard's Peg, “with the plethora of USMS officials at Nationals, why wasn't the recall rope correctly placed in at Nationals in Federal Way? I'm sure Anthony Ervin would like to redo his 50 back.” Not only did we have a “plethora of USMS officials at nationals”, we also had the Rules Chair (that would be me)! The poles for the recall rope were placed in the sleeves provided at that facility. On rare occasions, a rule change affecting the use of a device that is no longer required fades into the deep recesses of our memories, and that is exactly what happened here. The sleeves for the recall rope were placed in the deck according to the old rule. The Anthony Ervin story prompted us to get out our rule books and check the placement of that rope. We corrected that error. Regarding the Anthony Ervin story; he was not DQd in the 50 back for rolling over at the recall rope instead of the flags (if that’s what you heard; he actually got 3rd place). The Meet Referee checked the DQ slips and found that another swimmer was DQd in that heat. The referee talked to that swimmer who said he knew he turned over at the wrong place. Prior to the no-false-start rule, the recall rope was placed 11 meters from the starting end for short course and 15 meters from the starting end for long course (you may notice two sets of sleeves on pool decks for the recall rope). Interestingly enough, FINA meets place the false start rope 15 meters from the starting end for both long course and short course (meters). Kathy Casey, Chair USMS Rules Committee

In answer to the question from Blackbeard's Peg, “with the plethora of USMS officials at Nationals, why wasn't the recall rope correctly placed in at Nationals in Federal Way? I'm sure Anthony Ervin would like to redo his 50 back.” Not only did we have a “plethora of USMS officials at nationals”, we also had the Rules Chair (that would be me)! The poles for the recall rope were placed in the sleeves provided at that facility. On rare occasions, a rule change affecting the use of a device that is no longer required fades into the deep recesses of our memories, and that is exactly what happened here. The sleeves for the recall rope were placed in the deck according to the old rule. The Anthony Ervin story prompted us to get out our rule books and check the placement of that rope. We corrected that error. Regarding the Anthony Ervin story; he was not DQd in the 50 back for rolling over at the recall rope instead of the flags (if that’s what you heard; he actually got 3rd place). The Meet Referee checked the DQ slips and found that another swimmer was DQd in that heat. The referee talked to that swimmer who said he knew he turned over at the wrong place. Prior to the no-false-start rule, the recall rope was placed 11 meters from the starting end for short course and 15 meters from the starting end for long course (you may notice two sets of sleeves on pool decks for the recall rope). Interestingly enough, FINA meets place the false start rope 15 meters from the starting end for both long course and short course (meters). Kathy Casey, Chair USMS Rules Committee