From Swimnews

If FINA had acted forcefully to deny the Aquablade, the first domino wouldn't have tumbled. One could argue they SHOULD have acted then, but on what grounds? At the time, a decision to ban the Aquablade did not seem intuitively obvious. Was there much controversy back then? Did anyone even suggest that FINA should ban the Aquablade? Though it wasn't obvious (to me, at least) at the time, this was the first trickle of toothpaste exiting the tube--basically allowing suit design to have a significant impact on swimming speed. Everything since then have been improvements on this initial technology. Everything since then has been enabled by FINA's decision not to decide to keep the genie in the bottle. With the Aquablade, the nuclear arms race of suits began! Put the lid back on Pandora's Box before swimming joins Nascar, yachting, and Las Vegas Bunny Hunts as recreational activities available only to the super rich! To sum up: toothpaste out genie out Pandora's Box open Bunny Hunts in Las Vegas our only viable option? Where's the chick option? I don't care about bunnies in Vegas, so I guess I'll keep my suit. :) I don't find this argument persuasive. This is sport, not antiquing. No need to preclude technological development. If it is somehow desirable to cause such development to be excruciatingly incremental, FINA should have taken a more calculated, science based approach instead of approving everything in sight right away. I don't see why we should have to go back to the dinosaur age and use fossilized swimsuits in perpetuity.

If FINA had acted forcefully to deny the Aquablade, the first domino wouldn't have tumbled. One could argue they SHOULD have acted then, but on what grounds? At the time, a decision to ban the Aquablade did not seem intuitively obvious. Was there much controversy back then? Did anyone even suggest that FINA should ban the Aquablade? Though it wasn't obvious (to me, at least) at the time, this was the first trickle of toothpaste exiting the tube--basically allowing suit design to have a significant impact on swimming speed. Everything since then have been improvements on this initial technology. Everything since then has been enabled by FINA's decision not to decide to keep the genie in the bottle. With the Aquablade, the nuclear arms race of suits began! Put the lid back on Pandora's Box before swimming joins Nascar, yachting, and Las Vegas Bunny Hunts as recreational activities available only to the super rich! To sum up: toothpaste out genie out Pandora's Box open Bunny Hunts in Las Vegas our only viable option? Where's the chick option? I don't care about bunnies in Vegas, so I guess I'll keep my suit. :) I don't find this argument persuasive. This is sport, not antiquing. No need to preclude technological development. If it is somehow desirable to cause such development to be excruciatingly incremental, FINA should have taken a more calculated, science based approach instead of approving everything in sight right away. I don't see why we should have to go back to the dinosaur age and use fossilized swimsuits in perpetuity.