I started a similar poll before,but time has changed things and I thought since USMS is going to have to do something definitive so they should have some input from the forumites
Good article from Tony Austin here www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../22352.asp regarding the two different tech suit factions. Even has a part for non-competitors such as Galen:
"...or the slower lanes with the softest intervals. There you will find the swimmers wearing the open-water goggles because they take longer to fog up, fins that are a foot long so they can go swim faster, and if they are really ambitious, they may have hand-paddles that are the size of a pizza."
I wonder if the article is right about the FINA Masters Committee "punting" or whether they essentially had no power but to make a recommendation to the FINA Bureau. Very little has been reported about that or about the dynamics of that meeting or what authority the Masters Committee had. If they did in fact "punt" what pressures caused them to do so?
My question is, why would the FINA Bureau do anything but accept the Masters Committee's recommendation? I think the answer is in the article--the suit manufacturers want somebody they can dump their remaining inventory of tech suits on. That seems like the absolute worst possible reason for deciding that the suit ban should not apply to Masters in terms of whose interests are being served. Shouldn't the swimmers get to make the decisions on what rules will govern swimming? I surely hope FINA does the right thing here.
Good article from Tony Austin here www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../22352.asp regarding the two different tech suit factions. Even has a part for non-competitors such as Galen:
"...or the slower lanes with the softest intervals. There you will find the swimmers wearing the open-water goggles because they take longer to fog up, fins that are a foot long so they can go swim faster, and if they are really ambitious, they may have hand-paddles that are the size of a pizza."
I wonder if the article is right about the FINA Masters Committee "punting" or whether they essentially had no power but to make a recommendation to the FINA Bureau. Very little has been reported about that or about the dynamics of that meeting or what authority the Masters Committee had. If they did in fact "punt" what pressures caused them to do so?
My question is, why would the FINA Bureau do anything but accept the Masters Committee's recommendation? I think the answer is in the article--the suit manufacturers want somebody they can dump their remaining inventory of tech suits on. That seems like the absolute worst possible reason for deciding that the suit ban should not apply to Masters in terms of whose interests are being served. Shouldn't the swimmers get to make the decisions on what rules will govern swimming? I surely hope FINA does the right thing here.
