Ban the tech suits?

And there is the rub. You are buying speed. You have taken a sport that didn't have all the gizmos and googahs and turned it into NASCAR. Only the wealthy will own records. What is done is done. You can't put a fart back, even if it really stinks. So to make you happy, we should go back to the days of wool suits, no caps and no goggles? Take out the deep pools, high tech lane lines that cut down on waves and get rid of the starting blocks? You say swimming didn't have a lot of gizmos and googahs before tech suits were invented...I say you are wrong. Goggles are considered a far more radical invention than the high speed suits. Goggles have been credited for changing the sport in radical ways, from turns to length of training to how swimmers train and race. Guess we should get rid of those too.

So to make you happy, we should go back to the days of wool suits, no caps and no goggles? Isn't that au naturelle for Wookiees? :D

You say wimming didn't have a lot of gizmos and googahs before tech suits were invented I looked at what I said. I never said that. I don't even know what wimming is. But, thanks for the pedantic lecture on goggles. Spend more money on your suit. You'll swim faster, that's what it's all about.

You are buying speed. You can't put a fart back, even if it really stinks. If I'm buying speed, why bother to put the suit on at all? Just let it swim the race without my interference?

I looked at what I said. I never said that. I don't even know what wimming is. But, thanks for the pedantic lecture on goggles. Spend more money on your suit. You'll swim faster, that's what it's all about. You may not have openly said it, but your statement definitly implied it. And your welcome for the lecture...glad to anytime.

Precisely. Welcome to the world of racing. Faster is not a dirty word. Training + hard work + excellent technique + coaching + natural talent + mental fortitude + speed suit = fast racing. Speed suit = only one part of the equation. You don't see folks b*tching constantly about inequities in the other parts of the equation. Why is this one factor singled out so much? It's not the cost, it's the puritanical old fashioned bias at work. Some purist folks prefer "feel" and simplicity so they don't want others to gain an edge from an anti-feel cool tech suit and prefer to force us all to be "feelers." No thanks, I don't need water on my legs. i don't think this is the only part of the equation that is singled out for debate (remember the dara torres threads) like it or not swimming competition is a highly regulated sport. the pools are measured to the fraction on an inch, movement and motion is restricted (ever read the pages of regs about breaststroke), etc. high tech fabric suits are the latest equipment available to competitive swimmers, but it had to go through quite a process to meet with fina and other governing bodies' approval. i question the process (not the cost of the suits). it appears to me that the manufacturers (sponsors) are influencing policy that fina should have thought out first. to meet approval, the first generation of tech suits had to prove that they were not much of an advantage over "skin". they would never have been approved otherwise. with each new generation a small improvement over the last, we are now at a place where no one even dares to use the "skin" as a standard for comparison. i don't know how this thread devolved into the geek-dolphin debate over the cost of these suits... i consider the cost irrelevant. were i shooting for a national record, the cost would be of no consequence.

Why is it some have so much trouble with advancement? Does anyone think FINA will adopt USA Swimming's proposed below the knee ban? Seems ridiculous to me, as suits to the ankle have been standard since Sydney. QUOTE] lets not forget that the real competition going on here is between suit manufacturers for market share. my crystal ball says: 2012: the next big advancement will be in the fabric that enwraps the arms below the elbow and perhaps extended to a fingerless glove with grippy little "scales". 2016: olympic swimmers compete in open water without their skin even getting wet (except from sweat) 2020: ?????????????

Hey Chaos The point that tech suits become unreasonable is when a person's credit card debt gets so large they go belly up buying them, can't make their rent or mortgage payments or car payments, wind up living on the street, and eating at a soup kitchen. :badday: And most of the middle class is about two months from being in that prediament. Dolphin 2 Dolphin 2 - so now the middle class's financial problem is related to tech suits? So a family that can't make their rent payments will somehow be so stupid to buy expensive swim suits instead? Really - are you a closeted social engineer? Are America's problems caused by a few thousand expensive swim suits? It seems that you keep raising a new point about the suits instead of addressing any of the questions people here ask you.

I don't know a single person who practices regularly in a tech suit, and that includes the Olympic Prep group that trains in our facilities. In fact, one of them today was wearing your standard square leg baggy nylon thing. The point is these things do not replace hard work in practice nor do they disguise poor swimming in a race. They are simply a tool. People need to get off their high horses about this. Swimming is one of the last sports to embrace technology and it's about time. There is so little that is techie or new to swimming to entice the kids. If all it takes is a $200-$300 suit, well that's a pittance to get the rolls up. When our swim shop got the LZRs in stock, there was a buzz, WITH THE KIDS. How many pieces of swim equipment do kids get excited about - ZERO? Hey Aquageek: Regarding your comment about “technology” (the use of so called tech suits) making swimming an enticement and exciting to kids, I doubt that’s going to work. Kids already hate the hassle of taking ordinary P.E. and the hassle of using a tech suit for swimming will exacerbate the problem instead of making things better. I absolutely hated taking P.E. in junior high school because of the hassle of changing clothes, getting hot and sweaty, having to take a shower, and getting dressed again. :bitching: In high school however, the P.E. center had a full sized pool for lap swimming and I actually embraced taking P.E. where I could change into my simple briefs and swim laps without the hassle of getting hot and sweaty. :banana: If I had to endure the hassle of putting on one of those “techy suits” (like being swallowed by a python) then swimming in it (and the horrid sensation getting hot and sweaty inside a waterproof suit), I would have NEVER gone near P.E. -much less the pool. :bitching: If you want to get kids interested in P.E. again, then get the hassle out of it –and tech suits are a hassle if there ever was one. :bitching: Dolphin 2

Hey Aquageek: Kids already hate the hassle of taking ordinary P.E. and the hassle of using a tech suit for swimming will exacerbate the problem instead of making things better. IIf you want to get kids interested in P.E. again, then get the hassle out of it –and tech suits are a hassle if there ever was one. :bitching: Dolphin 2 Once again, you open your mouth and prove you don't know anything about competive swimming or kids. Yea, the suits aren't easy to get on, no one has argued that point. But every kid that I have coached and swim with at practice, LOVES getting the tech suits. They look forward to the championship meets where their coaches allow them to wear their tech suits. Kids don't view the suits a hassle to race in, the look forward to the meets where they are able to wear them. They love the feeling of diving in with the tech suits on and RACING with them. The tech suits makes things better because the kids love to get them and race in them.