www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../19679.asp
The most substantial change, of course, is that suits would no longer be allowed to extend past the knee.
My personal opinion is this is sort of an arbitrary change. What really should be changed--if anything--is what types of materials are allowed and maybe testing protocol to approve a suit. I don't really think requiring suits to end at the knees would affect much.
There has been some talk about how the cost of these suits might be detrimental to kids getting into the sport, but I wonder if this is really true. Yes, there's the concern that kids could be "priced out," but on the other hand lots of people are also drawn to the cool gizmo factor. After all, there are plenty of people who aren't rich that have no issue shelling out lots of money on things like basketball shoes. Let's face it, Speedo briefs in most cases are an source of derision. On the other hand, someone bedecked in a LZR is not. It's seen as cool. Whether this is justified or not is immaterial. With kids today I think sports need that cool factor to be popular.
There has been some talk about how the cost of these suits might be detrimental to kids getting into the sport, but I wonder if this is really true. Yes, there's the concern that kids could be "priced out," but on the other hand lots of people are also drawn to the cool gizmo factor. After all, there are plenty of people who aren't rich that have no issue shelling out lots of money on things like basketball shoes. Let's face it, Speedo briefs in most cases are an source of derision. On the other hand, someone bedecked in a LZR is not. It's seen as cool. Whether this is justified or not is immaterial. With kids today I think sports need that cool factor to be popular.
