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.
Is there something about below the knee that makes suits faster, slower, etc? I don't really understand this, to be honest.
I don't, either. If they really wanted to do something significant they should have proposed that men's suits cannot cover the navel or go below the knees.
From the article:
"The reasoning behind the proposal to FINA is that we are asking them to slow down the approval process for new suits, and speak to coaches and manufacturers on how the approval process can be more scientifically defined,"
It's not about the suits, perse, but rather the process behind the FINA approvals of the suits, or so they say. I also liked the bit about the suits having to be generally available for 12 months prior to the Games.
All this debate went on prior to Bejing, but the LAZR was allowed. Now it seems people want a more formal process. Seems like the horse is well out of the barn on this one...
I don't understand the below knee proposal. Legskin suits have been in use for many years. Material below the knee is hardly an innovation or controversial. It is the fabric and possible flotation effects of trapping air that are new.
I would be shocked if the below knee limitation actually went into effect.
I can't imagine that would happen. I don't know of a single rule change in the history of the sport that invalidated current records.
Not sure about swimming, but in Track & Field, when they changed the javelin design so it would not fly as far (it was getting dangerous), they invalidated the WR and started over.
-LBJ
The below the knee thing is strange. Frankly, the full leg suit is more comfortable to wear than the knee suit. The elastic around the knee in the shorter suits (at least the various Fastskins I've used) cut into the leg in a painful way! This is less of a problem around the ankle.
Strange proposal, but I like the part at the end about suits needing to be universally available for 12 mos. prior.
North Texas 14 & Under Swimsuit Standards Effective 2009
Tue, 2 Dec 2008 12:15:00 CST
Effective January 1, 2009 at all North Texas Swimming, age-group defined, sanctioned meets:
Swimsuits worn by females for all 14 & Under defined competitions shall not cover the neck, extend past the shoulder, nor past the hip.
Swimsuits worn by males for all 14 & Under defined competitions shall not extend above the hips nor below the knees.
Interesting - the LSC is imposing a higher age limit with an earlier effective date (assuming PK's date above is accurate). And the girls can't wear the short leg suits either!
As for your comment about my credentials regarding swimming, I don't need to actually swim on a competitive basis to know what the abilities of the so called "tech suits" really are.
Really, you sure about that? Again, what are your swimming credentials to speak on this topic?
As to fashion modeling, what in the world are you talking about? These suits are breaking records in the pool. I was at a recent SWIM event where a very prominent national coach said the one thing you can do to improve your swimming is buy a tech suit to compliment your hard work.
Why don't you actually go to a meet and look around. You have no clue, no knowledge or expertise on this topic.
The decision on how I spend my money for my kids really isn't your decision Rick, or anyone else's. I don't see the point of legislating how I chose to spend my fitness dollars. Any sane person realizes it is silly to buy one of these suits for a young kid but that doesn't mean we need bans or regulations regarding it.
I'm not saying I agree with the decision. Though I am not a voting member of the New England LSC board, I argued against such action. I will say that the input from the coaches was strong. They are very much hearing about this from their parents of younger swimmers.
One perspective... there is a fear that if too much disparity between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' gets into the younger swimming ages, then there will be a growing number of younger swimmers who are turned off by swimming. The long-term result is that you might have the next Michael Phelps not materialize, because he got discouraged as a 10-year-old because his parents didn't buy him a $500 suit for every meet.
-Rick
