Read the article "What's Up with the Suits?" by John Leonard at the following site:
http://www.swimmingcoach.org/
Now note that he sat on the FINA "Commission for Swimwear Approval" that produced the current fiasco:
www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../21315.asp
My prediction, FWIW, is that post 01-01-2010, men will be back into FS Pro Jammers (read" paper suits), and women into traditional tanks. Isn't that the only way to be "pure" and eliminate compression, buoyancy, air-trapping, drag reduction, etc?
Perhaps we should also get rid of goggles and silicone caps, since they also represent technological breaks with the past.
While I am happy to race in any type of suit, as long as it is a level playing field (and I consider LZR, B70, Jaked, AquaZone, Tracer Rise, Powerskin, etc to be level enough), I am nauseated by the "purist" argument that swimming has become all about the suits. It has not. Everyone has access to a LZR, or a B70, or ... So it is still racing, only in different equipment. Yes, a less-fit swimmer with poor technique may be aided more by the suits than a fit swimmer with good technique. But certainly not enough to beat the latter.
The purist argument is based on the dramatic drops in times achieved with the new suits. So what? Does the fact that Bousquet and cohorts are setting records minimize Biondi's accmplishments; or Popov's/Jager's/Thorpe's/Salinkov's/Spitz's? Of course not.:bitching:
Somebody find a way to get rid of FINA, please. And mute Craig Lord, while you're at it...:bitching:
Everyone I know in Masters has a "real life". I'm using that tongue in cheek from the other thread. But really, I think the most asked question besides the suit question, at meets, is how much has someone been training? B/c as it has been stated (too) many times, the suit cannot swim FOR you.
You often hear people say, "Jim hasn't been swimming much," or "Susie just had her appendix out." There are so many factors, obviously, that affect our performance at meets. I think we scout out this information on our competition b/c we care about them (heh-hem) but more probably b/c we know who we should/could beat and who we can't. And I think that's why people detest sandbaggers, b/c they are not honest.
So even if the writing is on the wall for tech suits, it's really the people in the suits that we should be asking about.
Everyone I know in Masters has a "real life". I'm using that tongue in cheek from the other thread. But really, I think the most asked question besides the suit question, at meets, is how much has someone been training? B/c as it has been stated (too) many times, the suit cannot swim FOR you.
You often hear people say, "Jim hasn't been swimming much," or "Susie just had her appendix out." There are so many factors, obviously, that affect our performance at meets. I think we scout out this information on our competition b/c we care about them (heh-hem) but more probably b/c we know who we should/could beat and who we can't. And I think that's why people detest sandbaggers, b/c they are not honest.
So even if the writing is on the wall for tech suits, it's really the people in the suits that we should be asking about.
