What will Master's do about this?
PRESS RELEASE
N°58/2009
FINA BUREAU MEETING
Rome (ITA) - July 28, 2009
Rome (ITA), July 28, 2009 – On its first meeting held today in Rome (ITA), the 2009-2013 FINA Bureau fully complied with the decision of the FINA Congress, held on July 24, 2009 related with the procedure concerning swimwear approval. As it was also decided by the Congress, these rules are now By-Laws rules, which allow the Bureau to further control, update and correct any deviation to the process or to proceed with any necessary adjustment related to the development of the swimsuit technology.
The FINA Bureau decisions on swimsuits include:
MATERIAL – The material of the swimsuits will definitively be constituted only by textile fabric(s). The definition of “textile” will be made by a group of scientific experts chosen by FINA and led by Prof. Jan-Anders Manson, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne (SUI). This definition will be available to manufacturers by no later than September 30, 2009. The first definition of “textile” to be further confirmed by this group is: “Material consisting of, natural and/or synthetic, individual and non consolidated yarns used to constitute a fabric by weaving, knitting, and/or braiding.”
SHAPE – For men, the swimsuit shall not extend above the navel nor below the knee, and for women, shall not cover the neck, extend past the shoulder, nor extend below knee. Furthermore, no zippers or other fastening system is allowed.
USE – In the regulation approved by the Congress, the swimmer can only wear one swimsuit and no taping is allowed.
TESTS – Only measurable scientific tests will be performed within the frame of the swimwear approval procedure. For thickness, the 1mm limit will be adjusted to 0.8mm, for buoyancy the present value of 1 Newton will be reduced to 0.5 (FINA will even consider the limit of 0 Newton), and for permeability the material(s) used must have at any point a value of more than 80l/m2/second. Permeability values are measured on material with a standard multidirectional stretch of 25%. These parameters will be further considered by the above mentioned scientific group.
CONSISTENCY – Swimsuits effectively manufactured and used shall correspond to and be fully consistent with submitted samples. Any modification before use (including impregnation) is prohibited. Moreover, there shall be no variation/modification for individual swimmers.
APPLICATION – Considering the time needed for manufacturers to produce their swimsuits, the submission dates and the implementation of the rules are applicable from 2010 only in Swimming competitions.
In addition to these decisions, the FINA Bureau also approved the new FINA Committees and Commissions for the period 2009-2013.
Finally, it was also established that the Diving Qualification event for the 1st Youth Olympic Games (August 2010 in Singapore) will be held in Mexico City (MEX), in April 2010.
FINA Communications Department • Tel.: (41-21) 310 4710 • Fax: (41-21) 312 6610 • www.fina.org
Parents
Former Member
You're referring to things such as in water starts, butterfrog, and lack of drug testing?
Anyhow, I'm speaking only of the swimsuit rules.
Those are exactly the kinds of things I'm referring to as well as not allowing 18-year-old master's swimmers, not having only meters courses, not having consistent age determinations and not allowing counter boards in the water.
I knew you were speaking only of the swimsuit rule but, in my mind, why is that such a big deal, that will so cheapen USMS' credibility, when we don't follow the other international rules? Is it a matter of degree? Will the average person on the street even be able to recognize the degree of differences, or only that there are already differences and that the suit issue would simply be another one?
I'm not trying to single you out in this opinion, but your post had a nice one-sentence bite that I could respond to. I'm thinking that many posters on the Forums are taking this one issue and saying it will ruin master's swimming when, in fact, there are many differences between USMS and FINA and between USMS and USAS. Indeed, there should be differences - we are separate organizations.
Anyhow, if I can borrow some of John Smith's feelings I would say that no one in the world gives a damn about those of us who compete in master's swimming. So why should it bother me if we differ with FINA in 5 rules or 10? If any of us were any good, then we would be competing in USAS and on the international stage.
Long live Dara Torres!
You're referring to things such as in water starts, butterfrog, and lack of drug testing?
Anyhow, I'm speaking only of the swimsuit rules.
Those are exactly the kinds of things I'm referring to as well as not allowing 18-year-old master's swimmers, not having only meters courses, not having consistent age determinations and not allowing counter boards in the water.
I knew you were speaking only of the swimsuit rule but, in my mind, why is that such a big deal, that will so cheapen USMS' credibility, when we don't follow the other international rules? Is it a matter of degree? Will the average person on the street even be able to recognize the degree of differences, or only that there are already differences and that the suit issue would simply be another one?
I'm not trying to single you out in this opinion, but your post had a nice one-sentence bite that I could respond to. I'm thinking that many posters on the Forums are taking this one issue and saying it will ruin master's swimming when, in fact, there are many differences between USMS and FINA and between USMS and USAS. Indeed, there should be differences - we are separate organizations.
Anyhow, if I can borrow some of John Smith's feelings I would say that no one in the world gives a damn about those of us who compete in master's swimming. So why should it bother me if we differ with FINA in 5 rules or 10? If any of us were any good, then we would be competing in USAS and on the international stage.
Long live Dara Torres!
