FINA...in their grand wisdom, has decided NOT to make Libby Lenton's 52.99 as a world record. This has been reported the the Herald Sun out of Australia.
Once again, FINA shows that it is run by politicans, not swimmers or swimming fans.
So, Thank You FINA for once again screwing things up.
I read the GR 9.6.1.2 and the rule declares what events are to be contested at World Championships and the Olympics. Since the Duel in the Pool was neither, I don't see how it applies. I think Lenton got robbed on this one.
There's a separate section of the rules related to which events world records are kept for. The 100 free is obviously one of those events. Of course, a mixed 4x100 free relay isn't one of the events, but if that's the problem FINA should have quoted that rule (SW 12.1) as the reason.
Kirk:
Taking this one extreme further and using this logic, if a USMS Masters swimmer broke a FINA World Record leading off a 400 Free Relay, and it doesn't matter if its a Women's, Men's, or Mixed, it would not count either because its a 400 distance. If the Relay was a 200 distance it would count because FINA spells this out in there Rules in MSW 4.2
www.fina.org/.../masters.php
I am not sure if Swimming Australia would count it as a National Record but I would bet that USA Swimming would not count the Record either if a USA Swimmer broke the National Record leading off a Mixed Relay because Mixed Relays don't exist in the USA Rule Books and thus a Record cannot not be set because the events are not defined. About the only Record you could have in a 400 Meter Mixed Relay would be a USMS National Record that I know of. I am not sure about other Federations and how they would treat 400 and 800 Relays as there National Records because FINA does not consider that they even exist. Same for Top Ten Tabulations. Take a look and you won't see any 400 or 800 Relays from the just recently posted 2006 FINA Top Ten Tabulations.
I read the GR 9.6.1.2 and the rule declares what events are to be contested at World Championships and the Olympics. Since the Duel in the Pool was neither, I don't see how it applies. I think Lenton got robbed on this one.
There's a separate section of the rules related to which events world records are kept for. The 100 free is obviously one of those events. Of course, a mixed 4x100 free relay isn't one of the events, but if that's the problem FINA should have quoted that rule (SW 12.1) as the reason.
Kirk:
Taking this one extreme further and using this logic, if a USMS Masters swimmer broke a FINA World Record leading off a 400 Free Relay, and it doesn't matter if its a Women's, Men's, or Mixed, it would not count either because its a 400 distance. If the Relay was a 200 distance it would count because FINA spells this out in there Rules in MSW 4.2
www.fina.org/.../masters.php
I am not sure if Swimming Australia would count it as a National Record but I would bet that USA Swimming would not count the Record either if a USA Swimmer broke the National Record leading off a Mixed Relay because Mixed Relays don't exist in the USA Rule Books and thus a Record cannot not be set because the events are not defined. About the only Record you could have in a 400 Meter Mixed Relay would be a USMS National Record that I know of. I am not sure about other Federations and how they would treat 400 and 800 Relays as there National Records because FINA does not consider that they even exist. Same for Top Ten Tabulations. Take a look and you won't see any 400 or 800 Relays from the just recently posted 2006 FINA Top Ten Tabulations.
