Do you feel like permitting swim skins in OW is a slap in the face to OW swimmers and has marginalized them despite OW's apparently booming popularity?
I know many are a fan of the ban. But I think FINA should have engaged in regulation rather than punting. Frankly, I hope the tech suits fans are fairly represented at the Convention, as I have the impression we aren't.
I think saying OW swimming is not swimming is insulting, yes. Certainly there have to be some different rules governing the two, though, and I guess that's how they spin it. Wouldn't want to get stung by jellies.
For women, especially, FINA only rolled back the clock by 2 years. I don't think that is "punting." For men, I think jammers is consistent with the idea that the main purpose of the suit is modesty.
When you get right down to it, this is an argument about whether the suit should be for modesty purposes or for performance enhancement (which was always against FINA's own rules, they just side-stepped the issue).
I don't think anything major is going to happen at Convention wrt the suits. This is a "legislation" year which means most concern is about governance, not rules. Of course, USMS issued this statement months ago (in March, I think):
"FINA approval or rejection of new swimwear introduced after September 30, 2007, will be accepted by U.S. Masters Swimming for U.S.M.S. sanctioned and recognized competition."
In addition to the ban of double-suits, this is the current "law of the land" in USMS, I believe. I guess the Rules Committee needs to clarify what this means, exactly, after Jan 1.
I am not sure if the whole "FINA doesn't apply this to masters" thing flies with this rule...out of curiousity, I asked Rules chair Kathy Casey at LCM nationals if XTerra skinsuits were legal for USMS competition (I own one but didn't have it with me, so the question was largely academic). The Xterra suits did NOT make it thru the first round with FINA and I guess they didn't resubmit; only one model is on their current list. Kathy said that is the only one that could be worn at USMS meets.
And that is the crux of it, right there. FINA has already said that the ban does not apply to us, which I suppose could be seen as a dismissive gesture that diminishes the relevance of Masters swimming. So if we take it upon ourselves to ban the suits, we will somehow be redeemed. Or something like that.
Sure I think it is dismissive ("let masters with their creaky knees and beer bellies keep the suits while real swimmers do without") but I don't think there is any such intention of "redemption" on the part of USMS. There are two issues for USMS: compliance (or not) with new USA-S rules, and compliance with FINA rules for masters. Whenever USA-S changes their rules of competition, USMS usually follows it, unless there is reason not to do so. For example, if USMS keeps the suits, I don't know what happens to the whole dual-sanction thing. And certainly I don't see why USA-S would accept times done at USMS meets as legit (eg to meet qualifying standards for a particular meet).
It is only my opinion, but I don't believe that USMS will go against FINA (it would put us at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the world), but I also don't think that we've heard the last from FINA about how the suits will apply to masters. And there is a question about whether USMS would or should advocate a particular position (as USA-S did).
Do you feel like permitting swim skins in OW is a slap in the face to OW swimmers and has marginalized them despite OW's apparently booming popularity?
I know many are a fan of the ban. But I think FINA should have engaged in regulation rather than punting. Frankly, I hope the tech suits fans are fairly represented at the Convention, as I have the impression we aren't.
I think saying OW swimming is not swimming is insulting, yes. Certainly there have to be some different rules governing the two, though, and I guess that's how they spin it. Wouldn't want to get stung by jellies.
For women, especially, FINA only rolled back the clock by 2 years. I don't think that is "punting." For men, I think jammers is consistent with the idea that the main purpose of the suit is modesty.
When you get right down to it, this is an argument about whether the suit should be for modesty purposes or for performance enhancement (which was always against FINA's own rules, they just side-stepped the issue).
I don't think anything major is going to happen at Convention wrt the suits. This is a "legislation" year which means most concern is about governance, not rules. Of course, USMS issued this statement months ago (in March, I think):
"FINA approval or rejection of new swimwear introduced after September 30, 2007, will be accepted by U.S. Masters Swimming for U.S.M.S. sanctioned and recognized competition."
In addition to the ban of double-suits, this is the current "law of the land" in USMS, I believe. I guess the Rules Committee needs to clarify what this means, exactly, after Jan 1.
I am not sure if the whole "FINA doesn't apply this to masters" thing flies with this rule...out of curiousity, I asked Rules chair Kathy Casey at LCM nationals if XTerra skinsuits were legal for USMS competition (I own one but didn't have it with me, so the question was largely academic). The Xterra suits did NOT make it thru the first round with FINA and I guess they didn't resubmit; only one model is on their current list. Kathy said that is the only one that could be worn at USMS meets.
And that is the crux of it, right there. FINA has already said that the ban does not apply to us, which I suppose could be seen as a dismissive gesture that diminishes the relevance of Masters swimming. So if we take it upon ourselves to ban the suits, we will somehow be redeemed. Or something like that.
Sure I think it is dismissive ("let masters with their creaky knees and beer bellies keep the suits while real swimmers do without") but I don't think there is any such intention of "redemption" on the part of USMS. There are two issues for USMS: compliance (or not) with new USA-S rules, and compliance with FINA rules for masters. Whenever USA-S changes their rules of competition, USMS usually follows it, unless there is reason not to do so. For example, if USMS keeps the suits, I don't know what happens to the whole dual-sanction thing. And certainly I don't see why USA-S would accept times done at USMS meets as legit (eg to meet qualifying standards for a particular meet).
It is only my opinion, but I don't believe that USMS will go against FINA (it would put us at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the world), but I also don't think that we've heard the last from FINA about how the suits will apply to masters. And there is a question about whether USMS would or should advocate a particular position (as USA-S did).
