Regarding the can of worms that "suit technology" has opened up, FINA should just TIVO back to the Mark Spitz era in the early 70s and what was legal then will be legal now -and for the foreseeable future. :agree:
Dolphin 2
I was pleased to see the mainstream media focus on the masters response to the suits. And a fairly balanced article too; many articles about the suit don't seem to be very complimentary to the sport but this one seemed okay.
But unlike Tom, I was surprised to see the bit about added knee stability. I've had 4 knee surgeries and this was news to me, I didn't feel any better (ie more stable) with or without the legskins. I'd love to hear different experiences from others.
Now, if they can make a suit that turns me into a great breaststroker...that's technology that I would like to see!
Update FYI: Coach Jim Miller -- who is also my doctor -- stated that none of these suits provide any joint stabilization. So I guess I won't be wearing a LZR for downhill skiing...
Obviously you forgot to turn the knob on the back from "long axis" to "breaststroke before swimming.(That takes some practice to do in the middle of an IM.)After all ,these suits do swim by themselves.
I am fine with masters swimmers continuing to wear the suits, but just come out and say we like going fast and unlike the rest of the swimming world we can't handle going backwards.
We can handle it just fine--it's called aging--but some of us just don't think the FINA decision makes much sense.
I was pleased to see the mainstream media focus on the masters response to the suits. And a fairly balanced article too; many articles about the suit don't seem to be very complimentary to the sport but this one seemed okay.
I thought the article was meh, though our existence is acknowledged, I guess. :) There was still some implicit anti-suit bias (e.g., we want to go faster and "don't care how" or some such phrasing). And it made us seem almost ridiculously fragile -- dislocating a shoulder putting on a suit?! What about racing? The "moral" stuff is just beyond tedious to me ...
I never realized zippers were such a hot topic for us geezers. I thought the Arena X-Glides with no zipper that, for example, Rebecca Soni wore looked just dandy.
I have to agree when I wore the Tyr tracer light legskin at Indy, it really helped my bad knee stay compressed. Of course, the Jakeds and Arenas, LZRs, B70 really need to go. Swimming Records aren't to supposed to move like the stock exchange.
Great article, pithy and informative. I still don't know how the manufacturers can keep going just based on a masters population, only a portion of whom compete, and only a portion of whom compete wear body suits.
