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?
Should tech suits be banned?
Refer to the USMS rule book which mirrors the USS & FINA rules
in Section 102.15 DISQUALIFICATIONS
on the bottom of page 14 there's rule
102.15.9 Swimmers are not permitted to wear or use any device or substance to help their speed, pace or buoyancy during a race. Goggles may be worn and rubdown oil applied if not considered excessive by the referee.
You can be pretty sure there will be some additional language added to that section or a new section about the latest generation of tech suits.
What will be considered a "device" and what won't be.
Once the rules are written. There will be specific violations for meet officials to look for.
It's likely to begin with obvious violations and abuses.
The NCAA is on this too, there's rumblings of what will and won't be allowed.
The cat's out of the bag
The genie's out of the bottle
Good luck getting them back in.
The latest screed from Craig Lord:
The bodysuits debate is raging here in Rijeka, the warning signs dripping like poison. Arena is the sponsor here. Where is professional respect and trust that existed between these makers? Down in the warm-down pool, the man from the Blueseventy factory in Germany (home of adidas), is handing out bag loads of suits for free. Does that company sponsor a single federation? Does that suit maker invest huge amounts in the infrastructure of the sport? Does that suit maker understand that contracts and faith and trust are being shredded in a sport on the verge of saying to the manufacturers of wetsuits and bodyboards: go away, darken our door no more?
The German media sit next to me on the press bench, a stream of German team staff flow by. The talk is all about the difference in performances a week ago at German nationals and now here in Rijeka. The difference stretches to what the swimmers are wearing. Last week, under club control, they wore what they liked. This week, they wear adidas, a company now considering its investment in the pool. Senior German swimmers are now saying to the DSV: I am not wearing your team suit in Rome 2009 if the man or woman in the next lane is sporting an aquatic bullet. So, generations of children who would surely have pestered their parents to go out and buy Britta Steffen's double golden suit this Christmas will be asking for something quite different next year (they probably already are). The damage being done to the image of one of the biggest players in the global sportswear market as a direct consequence of FINA's stand on suits is now leaking into the German media. That process will gather momentum. If I were at the helm in adidas, I would be picking the phone up to FINA and telling them: sort this out, act fast or we are gone.
This morning, I saw several examples of swimmers wearing two suits and there were three swimmers spotted wearing three suits. Ludicrous. The referee is powerless to act. The rule book has been left wanting. And how. The only way out of this mess is to go down the lines proposed by the USA: cut back the fabric and control the fabric in a way that bars access to the sport of a what we will soon legitimately be able to call a doping suit.
A good and very obvious start is to limit swimmers to one suit by specifying in the rule that "swimsuit" -- duh -- means one suit.
What about the people that wear a 2nd drag suit for rinky-dink meets?
What about folks who wear a suit under their jammers/legs/kneeskins/full body suits not only for extra support (both genders have body parts that tend to flop around :bouncing:), but also for ease of change and for lack of scaring locker room friends with "the porn areas?" Not everyone is comfortable sitting in a crowded locker room buck nekked trying to get a suit on with the goods hanging out for all to see - or walking into said situation.
What about the people that wear a 2nd drag suit for rinky-dink meets?
What about folks who wear a suit under their jammers/legs/kneeskins/full body suits not only for extra support (both genders have body parts that tend to flop around :bouncing:), but also for ease of change and for lack of scaring locker room friends with "the porn areas?" Not everyone is comfortable sitting in a crowded locker room buck nekked trying to get a suit on with the goods hanging out for all to see - or walking into said situation.
lol. Hadn't thought of the porn problem. :afraid: And we know how Stud feels about that ...
Can a swimmer be limited to one technical suit then? Or is that unworkable?
In 2000, FINA stated that the bodysuits(fastskins, aquablades, adidas suits) were not devices. That essential started the ball rolling.
I don't want the suits banned or even restricted so that they can't cover shoulder to ankles but there probably does need to be some guidelines set in place about the fabric used in them.
The latest screed from Craig Lord:
Whatever I think about tech suits,this guy seems like a pompous:censor::censor:Just because B-70 isn't kissing up to the federations,and Arena has been caught with there pants down,he thinks they should be banned,but Speedo(who seems to have "cheated"with FINAs blessing) is given a free ride.What a hypocrite.
Whatever I think about tech suits,this guy seems like a pompous:censor::censor:
Gotta agree with you on that. Blue Seventy is just trying to sell swimsuits like everybody else and it seems like they've come up with a very desirable design. Somehow this makes them evil?
