I can't say I will miss the tech suits personally, but I am very surprised that FINA went that far. I wonder whether it will have a big impact on the popularity of swimming or not. I think a lot of the increased popularity is attributable to one person and the media attention that surrounds him. I guess we will have to see.
In regard to the tech suit records and how long it will take for them to be broken, maybe we underestimate the importance of the person doing the swimming. All it would take is a few genetic freaks like Phelps and half the world records could be taken down by a couple swimmers. Phelps set most of his current world records in just leggings and so did Peirsol. Some of the records might be there for a long time, but my guess is that many will be broken before or during the London Olympics. What will be very interesting is to see is which athletes are able to perform at or near their tech suit best times and which won't be able to close. Maybe we should just put an asterisk on the records by swimmers that can't get close to their tech suit bests. I think we were able to overcome the steroid records fairly quickly and my bet is that swimmers will be able to surpass many of the tech suit records as well within 5 years.
I wish I could recommend a therapist or rehab center for those of you addicted to tech suits, but I am afraid it sounds like you are going to have to go cold turkey and see how it goes. I loved the post that maybe USMS won't go along with the change, but who is going to manufacture the suits only for USMS even if USMS were silly enough not to follow the FINA rules? You might want to buy up a big personal inventory of tech suits before they stop manufacturing them just in case USMS doesn't go along with FINA so you can keep your competitive edge as long as possible or maybe we could have an open division at Nationals just for fun.
I will greatly miss the discussion topic though. RIP
Tim
I can't say I will miss the tech suits personally, but I am very surprised that FINA went that far. I wonder whether it will have a big impact on the popularity of swimming or not. I think a lot of the increased popularity is attributable to one person and the media attention that surrounds him. I guess we will have to see.
In regard to the tech suit records and how long it will take for them to be broken, maybe we underestimate the importance of the person doing the swimming. All it would take is a few genetic freaks like Phelps and half the world records could be taken down by a couple swimmers. Phelps set most of his current world records in just leggings and so did Peirsol. Some of the records might be there for a long time, but my guess is that many will be broken before or during the London Olympics. What will be very interesting is to see is which athletes are able to perform at or near their tech suit best times and which won't be able to close. Maybe we should just put an asterisk on the records by swimmers that can't get close to their tech suit bests. I think we were able to overcome the steroid records fairly quickly and my bet is that swimmers will be able to surpass many of the tech suit records as well within 5 years.
I wish I could recommend a therapist or rehab center for those of you addicted to tech suits, but I am afraid it sounds like you are going to have to go cold turkey and see how it goes. I loved the post that maybe USMS won't go along with the change, but who is going to manufacture the suits only for USMS even if USMS were silly enough not to follow the FINA rules? You might want to buy up a big personal inventory of tech suits before they stop manufacturing them just in case USMS doesn't go along with FINA so you can keep your competitive edge as long as possible or maybe we could have an open division at Nationals just for fun.
I will greatly miss the discussion topic though. RIP
Tim
