I love it! All together now: FINA sucks! FINA sucks! FINA sucks!
Industry News: Blueseventy Anticipates FINA's Swim Suit Ruling -- June 19, 2009
PHOENIX, Arizona, June 19. IN a press release distributed this morning, Blueseventy launched a preemptive strike in anticipation of FINA's next ruling on swimsuits expected June 22.
Here is the full release without edit:
Swimwear brand Blueseventy was one of thirteen brands to present their high-tech body suits to swimming's world governing body, FINA, yesterday (18 June 2009). However, the announcement of which suits will be approved has been delayed by two days until Monday 22 June.
The sport has been in disarray since FINA placed previously approved world record breaking suits on the banned list. The status of records set is still under question. Eleven BlueSeventy models were amongst 136 suits not approved for racing and have been effectively 'off the shelves' since last month.
It was banned on the basis of 'air-trapping' without any clarification of how this was being tested or measured. BlueSeventy called on the technical expertise of Huub Touissant of the University of Amseterdam to demonstrate that the suit does not trap air.
On this basis BlueSeventy is not proposing any alterations be made to its existing suits. The delay to FINA's announcement, originally scheduled for Saturday 20 June, is based on the French national federation's request to avoid disruption at their national championships, which are taking place this weekend.
BlueSeventy's Dean Jackson commented: "We presented a rock-solid argument that our suits do not trap air and feel this will help convince FINA to put us back on the list of approved suits. However, we are disappointed that the announcement has been delayed until Monday, as this is effectively another two days of lost sales opportunities."
Blueseventy will make a statement following the publication of FINAs new list on Monday 22nd June. This will be issued at 5pm GMT.
If Fina take a step back and approve every suits banned it'll lost all the credibility left. It must stand on previous decision, defend the previous work of Prof. Jan- Anders Manson, go into the courts if necessary, and it must make clear that coming 2010 a huge step back on suits is in the cards, otherwise this caos is only the beginning, the WC will be only the field to even more suspect, discussion about suits and their availability, not about amazing performance, great swims.
...it must make clear that coming 2010 a huge step back on suits is in the cards,
And why does the sport need to take a huge step back? The suits are out there for anyone to get, if they choose too.
This arguement about getting swimming back to a tech based sport is a joke. All sports are tech based. All sports use the best possible outfits and equipment to improve their results to go along with the hard work that is put into years of training.
Swimming is no different.