It seems to me like the swimsuit situation has gotten a bit out of hand. Prices are high; LZRs are unavailable; swimskins are legal for USMS pool meets... the list continues.
With the fabrics, I think we can all agree neoprene should remain illegal for pool meets. But beyond that, who's to say what is and what isn't? It will be tough with all the new technology, and as we're seeing today with Speedo and BlueSeventy being FINA sponsors, it will be tough to knock the gift horse in the mouth.
Most of these new suits are body suits. Why not try to limit the effect a suit has on a performance by limiting the amount of suit that can affect performance? It is a stretch to get back to "briefs" and "recordbreakers," as already, women have a fabric advantage. But why not put a limit on the total amount of fabric that can be used, or the total amount of acceptable body coverage?
Small step to take, and in the end, to make the genders fair, we probably wouldn't lose much suit. But I think it is rediculous to see people completely covered at the pool. Their swims should be all about them - not what they and their suit can accomplish.
When does an innovation become an unfair advantage?
To compare this to running: Consider that some sprinters (in track) have adopted a full-body suit to reduce drag and wind resistance. And who would show up at the Olympics in track spikes made in, say, 1950, 1980, or even 2000? The innovations in equipment make for faster times and world records. No one even heard of altitude tents when Roger Bannister and Emil Zatopek competed.
But the USATF drew the line at shoes with springs:
www.american-trackandfield.com/.../spirashoesMar04.html
But why ban these shoes and not, for instance the Nike air cushion when that was first developed?
I don't envy those having to make the decisions on matters like this.
When does an innovation become an unfair advantage?
To compare this to running: Consider that some sprinters (in track) have adopted a full-body suit to reduce drag and wind resistance. And who would show up at the Olympics in track spikes made in, say, 1950, 1980, or even 2000? The innovations in equipment make for faster times and world records. No one even heard of altitude tents when Roger Bannister and Emil Zatopek competed.
But the USATF drew the line at shoes with springs:
www.american-trackandfield.com/.../spirashoesMar04.html
But why ban these shoes and not, for instance the Nike air cushion when that was first developed?
I don't envy those having to make the decisions on matters like this.
Compression is not equivalent to springs. Neoprene may be.
well one way people can respond is with their choices, I personally only swim in the classic brief, never liked having that much material, besides i dont like the adventure of putting it/them on.
cats out of the bag
world records have already been broken by swimmers wearing tech suits
tech suits have been around for since 1992
good luck getting the cat back in the bag
ande
I love you, Muppet, but this is the WORST idea ever. Regulating what type of suit people wear?!?! (Could only be proposed by fans of the brief/recordbreaker.) We'd have to regulate how many massages Smith gets too, since those are performance enhancing. And we'd have to ban swimming with kids' teams, as that is performance enhancing.
Pandora's box is open and the world is now filled with evil ...
Why is this such a moral issue? It's a sport and we're supposed to go fast and faster.
cats out of the bag
world records have already been broken by swimmers wearing tech suits
tech suits have been around for since 1992
good luck getting the cat back in the bag
ande
time for an asterisk ?
*
I have never cared much for briefs. I like the suits that cover shoulders down to ankle. I find them to be comfortable. Do they help? Probably somewhat but not as much as many people would like to think.
If the athlete doesn't do the training, they won't get the results. People swim to forget that the suits can't do the swimming. The person inside does.
So, if you don't like the bodysuits, don't buy em. But don't try to get them banned for the rest of us that do like wearing them. Leave it up to the individual to chose what suit..classic,jammer, etc, they want to wear.
I am guilty of having worn technical suits including the full legs and body (no arm coverage) suit...and yeah, I have swam fast times in them without a doubt, but I was also shaved and tapered.
I only started wearing these suits when it seemed that every other person in my races/heats were wearing them as well.
I can honestly say that I don't feel as good about my swims/times when wearing a technical suit as I do when I accomplish similarly good swims in a regular old recordbreaker style suit...
I feel like suits are offering too much gains that aren't natural--we wouldn't swim some of the times we do necessarily without the suits we're wearing. While some might argue thats a problem across all sports, I don't think running shoes and the innovations in spikes and such are really as big of a deal....yes running suits that eliminate drag...I think thats a little too far as well.
I realize however that it would take a major overhaul of the entire swimming organizations in order to go back to the days of swimming in real swim suits rather than laser fused seamless body suits.
Muppet, I really wish this would happen. The suit manufacturers are too close to FINA and the other organizations, though. Everyone knows that USA Swimming is just a front for Speedo.
The full-body suits just seem silly to me. They are expensive, uncomfortable and ugly. At a meet, I would prefer to think about my races, not my suit.
