The Swimming World magazine have posted this article, www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../20390.asp
LAUSANNE, Switzerland, February 19. IN an attempt to have a united front on what possible changes they are willing to have enacted with regard to speedsuits, suit manufacturers got together for a meeting today in Switzerland, according to Tony Austin of the SCAQ Blog.
Without working together, there was a definite possibility that the powers working against speedsuits continuing in the sport altogether could have capitalized on a split agenda by the various competing manufacturers.
According to Austin's reporting, the manufacturers have agreed to a game plan heading into tomorrow's meeting. The restrictions they are willing to agree to immediately without any fight are "a de facto buoyancy test, suit thickness guidelines, a rule to ban multiple suits and/or duct tape ‘mods' and most importantly clear cut rules so that suit innovation can take place without the fear of a nebulous interpretation wiping out bundles of money in R&D expenses at the last minute."
Tomorrow, the official recommendation that will be put in front of the FINA congress will be hammered out.
Full text of the blog posting.
Look like a compromise will be the probable outcome from this mess about Tech-suits.
The Manufactures are in too strong positions to accept a complete ban at top level, too much money is on the stake, so they're showing all together to force the hand to FINA with a common position, with minor changes.
All the swimming's world needed money from major sponsors, and The tech suits are a great source of profit.
The overall performance are improved too much in a blink at every level to even think that the suit don't affect the performance in pool, and if they affect the performance by rule they'd be banned period.
But for me it's too late and too much to loose for nearly everybody to return to speedoo.
It's ironic that multiple suits are accepted to be banned because help the swimmers, but if multiple suits helps then every single suit must help at little bit, even one alone only, otherwise it's a nosense in first place. So why banned multiple suite if the suit don't help buoyance ?
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Former Member
The official press release from FINA:
FINA, represented by its Executive and Technical Swimming Commission, Legal, Coaches and Athletes Commissions’ representatives, held today a meeting in Lausanne (SUI) with representatives of 16 swimwear manufacturers in order to examine amendments of the current ‘FINA Requirements for Swimwear Approval’.
Based on FINA's proposals and contributions discussed at the meeting, the FINA Bureau at its meeting on March 12-14, 2009 in Dubai (UAE) will consider amendments which include:
• DESIGN: The swimsuit shall not cover the neck and shall not extend past the shoulders nor past the ankles;
• MATERIAL:
o The material used shall have a maximum thickness of 1mm;
o When used, the material shall follow the body shape;
o The application of different materials shall not create air trapping effects;
• BUOYANCY: The swimsuit shall not have a buoyancy effect of more than 1 Newton (100gr);
• CONSTRUCTION: Any system providing external stimulation or influence of any form (e.g. pain reduction, chemical/medical substance release, electro-stimulation) is prohibited;
• CUSTOMISATION: All swimsuits of an approved model must be constructed in an identical fashion with no variation/modification for individual swimmers from the samples submitted for approval;
• USE: The swimmer can only wear one swimsuit at a time;
• CONTROL: FINA will establish its own independent control/testing programme. Scientific testing will be conducted by a team led by Prof. Jan-Anders Manson, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and Laboratory of Polymer and Composite Technology;
• APPROVAL: Swimwear manufacturers will be able to make submissions for approval of swimsuits until March 31, 2009.
In a further step, rules applicable from January 1, 2010 will also be examined by the Bureau.
One of the main aspects to be considered is the limitation of the use of non-permeable material.
“FINA has studied this matter very carefully, and together with all interested parties and the scientific expertise of EPFL, we have reached the best possible result.
"With these amendments, FINA shows that it continues to monitor the evolution of the sport’s equipment with the main objective of keeping the integrity of sport. While we need to remain open to evolution, the most important factors must be the athletes’ preparation and physical condition on achieving their performances”, considered FINA President Mustapha Larfaoui.
The official press release from FINA:
FINA, represented by its Executive and Technical Swimming Commission, Legal, Coaches and Athletes Commissions’ representatives, held today a meeting in Lausanne (SUI) with representatives of 16 swimwear manufacturers in order to examine amendments of the current ‘FINA Requirements for Swimwear Approval’.
Based on FINA's proposals and contributions discussed at the meeting, the FINA Bureau at its meeting on March 12-14, 2009 in Dubai (UAE) will consider amendments which include:
• DESIGN: The swimsuit shall not cover the neck and shall not extend past the shoulders nor past the ankles;
• MATERIAL:
o The material used shall have a maximum thickness of 1mm;
o When used, the material shall follow the body shape;
o The application of different materials shall not create air trapping effects;
• BUOYANCY: The swimsuit shall not have a buoyancy effect of more than 1 Newton (100gr);
• CONSTRUCTION: Any system providing external stimulation or influence of any form (e.g. pain reduction, chemical/medical substance release, electro-stimulation) is prohibited;
• CUSTOMISATION: All swimsuits of an approved model must be constructed in an identical fashion with no variation/modification for individual swimmers from the samples submitted for approval;
• USE: The swimmer can only wear one swimsuit at a time;
• CONTROL: FINA will establish its own independent control/testing programme. Scientific testing will be conducted by a team led by Prof. Jan-Anders Manson, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and Laboratory of Polymer and Composite Technology;
• APPROVAL: Swimwear manufacturers will be able to make submissions for approval of swimsuits until March 31, 2009.
In a further step, rules applicable from January 1, 2010 will also be examined by the Bureau.
One of the main aspects to be considered is the limitation of the use of non-permeable material.
“FINA has studied this matter very carefully, and together with all interested parties and the scientific expertise of EPFL, we have reached the best possible result.
"With these amendments, FINA shows that it continues to monitor the evolution of the sport’s equipment with the main objective of keeping the integrity of sport. While we need to remain open to evolution, the most important factors must be the athletes’ preparation and physical condition on achieving their performances”, considered FINA President Mustapha Larfaoui.
