Not sure if it's the suit, the Olympic year, or a combo of both - but I do get the impression that the LZR racer is the fastest suit out there. It's not yet available, but I am sure some people will pull some strings and show up with the suit in Austin.
I think we should all agree to ban the suit from Austin and spread the word to everybody. I know it's not binding - but I think we are all "old enough" to work on the honor system.
Any thoughts ?
Matt - what I am trying to get at is - that yes, in an ideal world the competition field would be level. In reality that does not happen. Facilities, access to coaches, equipment, suits, etc. has always created an unfair playing field.
Within Masters swimmers we have a wide range in terms of talents, time to train, facilities in which we train, coaches, size, etc. The field can never be truly level. We do what we can do create a fair playing field but truthfully it doesn't happen.
Lindsey - there is a difference between accepting that life is not fair and that some people may get early access to the LZR and then justifying morally and crimally wrong acts. That is a HUGE jump. The playing field at Nationals will never be 100% fair. We do what we can to make things fair - gender seperation, age groups, etc. We control the factors we can and accept the rest. What about swimmers that simply cannot afford to spend money on another suit? They cannot afford to pay $300 or more for a faster suit. What about people that got sick right before nationals or that because of other factors (work, kids) couldn't train as much as others? There will always be an "excuse" or a reason why one didn't swim fast.
Do the best you can with what you have.
I think the suits have both a physical and meatal effect. I think the metal gain is as important as the physical.
Lindsey you are also talking about breaking rules. There are not any rules being broken if somone wears a LZR. There are rules about the number of dolphin kicks. There are LAWS against killing people. There is no rule stating that swimmers cannot wear a suit FINA said was legal - regardless of availability.
what's EOM?
Maybe "End Of Message?"
Short course 200s don't hurt as much. Go for 200 SCM back (2:12.1) this year or SCY back (1:58.7) next year. Either should definitely be within reach, considering you were close to 2:00 in practice this season.
And the only agrument I am hearing for not banning the suits is that it isn't fair because 99% of the swimmers there would not be able to get one. I think it is crazy to even think about proposing a rule to ban the suits at Nationals - not to mention logisitically impossible at this point in time. The initial thread also said nothing about creating a rule just everyone giving their word that they would not use one.
My assumption (right or wrong) is that the initial poster said this because they think it is unfair that some people will be able to get suits and others won't. I do not think that is a logical argument. I could maybe buy it IF FINA was retesting the suit and not sure if it truly was legal. I don't see that happening (at least them all of a sudden finding the suit illegal). That is the only way I could see disallowing the suits.
TYR had a couple of products awhile back the ended up being banned. IF records were set using the arms bands (I don't think any were) I believe as long as they were used while the product was considered "legal" then they should still stand.
We should ban anything that all folks everywhere can't have equal access to. If they can get access to it but can't afford it, we should ban it also. If their pool is too hot or cold and not optimal training conditions, we should ban all competitors who are able to train in optimal conditions. If a person who has a LZR can't make it to Austin for whatever reason, Nationals should be shut down cause it just isn't fair that not everyone can compete.
The level playing field in swimming is the pool and APPROVED apparel. This suit is approved, get over it if you can't find or afford it. There are thousands of items you don't have access to, doesn't mean the rest of us can't enjoy them.
Equal distribution of commodities - soak that up in Havana or Beijing or Pyongyang.
For all that want this denied until Speedo produces enough for everyone - you are just playing into Speedo's marketing plan - create buzz, increase demand, keep prices high.
It's Masters swimming, for goodness sakes.
Bottom line - life is not fair.
The problem with this line of argument is that it can be used to justify anything.
You want to eliminate the gender distinction at Nationals? Oh well, might as well, we all know life isn't fair. He did how many dolphin kicks off his start in the 100 ***? Oh well, life isn't fair. They killed how many peaceful protesters? Oh well, life isn't fair.
If you want to argue that it is impossible or impractical to ban the suits, or that it would require rule changes that can't be passed in time that's fine, but the argument that life isn't fair so we shouldn't make any effort to make it as fair as possible doesn't carry much weight.
When has that ever happened?
It is my belief that the rules of organized sports are in place to maintain a level playing field, in which fair competition can take place. You don't agree? Perhaps they are just there to give people something to *** about, who knows. Admittedly competitions are not always fair.
I am not saying that there are rules against using these suits when they are not available to all competitors (although such rules might exist), rather, at face value it seems to me to be giving a select few individuals with connections an unfair advantage.
I think the metal gain is as important as the physical.
Must be quite a swimsuit to have a, "metal," effect:
www.pixelpoke.com/.../Realistic metal effect.html
Just have everyone swim naked, that will be the most fair way.
