I am just back from the SPMA meet where all the top finisher were wearing the latest generation tech suits,mostly B-70s(or were named Jeff Commings.)I have here to for been in favor of the suits,but now I am not so sure.First,they eliminate the old bench marks.I went my fastest 100m BR in 5 yr in my LZR,but it was only .3 sec faster than I did untapered 5 wk earlier in my first swim in the LZR.So was my swim good or not,I'm not sure.Also,instead of focusing on technique or pace I found myself ruminating over aspects of the suits,how many more swims did the suit have,is it the right size,was the reason I didn't get better results from my B-70 because it was too big?etc.The B-70 has somewhat mitigated the "too expensive,not durable" problem,but for how long.
Lets say a company comes up with a suit that is much faster,say 4 sec/100.Further that it is very expensive(say $1000) lasts 4 swims and is very hard to make so that quantities are always limited and the fastest way to get one is to bid up to $3000 on ebay. Now lets say your nemesis has one,or that getting one is your best chance to get TT or AA or a ZR or WR,or that your child is close to making JO cuts,or finally beating his/her nemesis etc. Is it worth it and where does it stop?
Parents
Former Member
"... so by limiting the coverage of the the body we limit the damages that can be done with engineering and biometics etcetera. That plus the idea of one suit alone." John Leonard
"Nothing was wrong with swimming before, it was fine, it's worse now because something was introduced that shouldn't have been introduced." Craig Lord
I agree 100%. Limit the coverage to limit the advantage of the suit, and make all the suits available to the public 12 mo before a meet.
Hi Charged
I agree with Craig Lord. :applaud:
In the past, FINA’s position was to minimize the effect of the suit and they required that the suit have as little coverage as possible.
However with the introduction of tech suits, there are way too many variables to deal with and any attempt to make rules about them will just result in bickering and nit picking.
Suit technology (along with all sorts of performance enhancing drugs) is considered a "Cheat Sheet" appraoch and they have severely obscured what can be considered as a true achievement in the athletic world.
The suit makers won’t go along with this, but the most obvious and simplist solution is just to go back to the Mark Spitz days in the 1970s when plain old $20 briefs were the standard uniform and the only variables were the individual athlete’s body characteristics.
Dolphin 2
"... so by limiting the coverage of the the body we limit the damages that can be done with engineering and biometics etcetera. That plus the idea of one suit alone." John Leonard
"Nothing was wrong with swimming before, it was fine, it's worse now because something was introduced that shouldn't have been introduced." Craig Lord
I agree 100%. Limit the coverage to limit the advantage of the suit, and make all the suits available to the public 12 mo before a meet.
Hi Charged
I agree with Craig Lord. :applaud:
In the past, FINA’s position was to minimize the effect of the suit and they required that the suit have as little coverage as possible.
However with the introduction of tech suits, there are way too many variables to deal with and any attempt to make rules about them will just result in bickering and nit picking.
Suit technology (along with all sorts of performance enhancing drugs) is considered a "Cheat Sheet" appraoch and they have severely obscured what can be considered as a true achievement in the athletic world.
The suit makers won’t go along with this, but the most obvious and simplist solution is just to go back to the Mark Spitz days in the 1970s when plain old $20 briefs were the standard uniform and the only variables were the individual athlete’s body characteristics.
Dolphin 2
