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
NCAA allows string ties for jammers and briefs.FINA says no fastening system.A string tie is clearly a fastening system.No string ties should make meets very interesting,especially backstroke.
These people should probably look for a different sport or buck up.
hehe, good point, but a lot easier to say by someone who was chiseled by Michaelangelo out of Italian marble :bow: :bliss:
I do see your point, though, wookiee. Suits covering the chest for men have only been popular for the last decade or so, but there was never a rule before specifically preventing men from covering their chests. I still think it's OK for FINA to impose coverage restrictions on suits, but realize some people won't be happy about it.
I would like Masters Swimming to be taken seriously, and I think having a significantly different rule from FINA and USA-S (accepting that their rules might themselves be a little different) would hurt Masters in the "legitimacy" argument.
It maybe laughable to you but there are people out there that are very self aware of their bodies. Being able to wear suits that cover the upper body is much of a mental ease, comfort thing over it being a speed issue for many people.
You have a valid point. At the same time isn't it possible that the wide-spread use of these high tech suits inhibits other masters swimmers from competing? They may feel, for whatever reason, that the tech suit is not for them and that they are at a disadvantage without one. I personally know of two people who feel this way.
BTW, I personally love to compete in the tech suits but I'm in favor of masters following FINA. I will suffer for my sport and endure the dreaded shaving down.
Rich
FINA may make an exempation for master swimmers. They may allow masters to wear bodysuits because of some of the previous issues people have talked about in regards to older swimmers bodies.
If FINA exempts masters from the new rulings, then usms and other masters groups aren't ignoring FINA's rules.
Sure, but why bother changing rules at all if we are not going to strictly comply with FINA's suit rules? Just to say that we made an attempt at complying while still taking into consideration the appearance of some of our older swimmers in "old school" swim suits? As amusing as Mr. Thornton's blog was, this is really a laughable reason to steer clear of a bodysuit ban, IMHO.
Sure, but why bother changing rules at all if we are not going to strictly comply with FINA's suit rules? Just to say that we made an attempt at complying while still taking into consideration the appearance of some of our older swimmers in "old school" swim suits? As amusing as Mr. Thornton's blog was, this is really a laughable reason to steer clear of a bodysuit ban, IMHO.
It maybe laughable to you but there are people out there that are very self aware of their bodies. Being able to wear suits that cover the upper body is much of a mental ease, comfort thing over it being a speed issue for many people.
To me, forcing masters swimmers to swim in briefs is good encouragement to get in shape. Natural body shaping should be a part of swimming and encouraged for a healthy lifestyle.
Doesn't this make sense?
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.
Pardon me, but I very much give a damn about masters swimming. Most of the instances cited in which USMS rules differ from other governing bodies do not make USMS swimmers faster and appear to me to be an accommodation primarily to older swimmers. The suits just make people go faster. That is a very significant difference.
By the way, I think I'm plenty "good" even though I can't compete in USAS or the international stage. I do very well with a real life and limited training time, legitimately competing against similarly situated people. USMS is not "beer league softball". I find it to be pretty serious competition.
