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
How do you know? I was under the impression that the current international masters consensus was pro-suit. Do you know what the other federations recommended? (Or was your "they" meant to refer to FINA?)
Midas, I meant the delegates did not vote on the compromise proposal that was submitted to FINA. That just came out of committee and went directly to FINA.
I agree with Jim that those swimmer that never compete shouldn't really care or vote on what we wear. I understand Chris' point about potential competitors or theoretical "barriers to entry." But the idea that a workout-only swimmer with a purist bent could conceivably dictate what I compete in bugs the hell out of me.
My guess is that most workout only swimmers don't care one way or another, so maybe you can take comfort in that. Obviously even occasional competitors should have a say.
As far as the international consensus, here's what we know: (1) We (USMS) wanted a compromise, (2) at least a majority voted in favor of an outright suit ban. From that we can infer that somebody else proposed/favored an outright ban over a compromise or "anything goes." And I would suspect that at least a few of the other major international masters federations were represented at that meeting. I don't know how voting works, though (do we get a larger vote based on our relative size, or is every federation, regardless of size, on equal footing). I wish this information was made public and frankly its unacceptable that it isn't. This is our organization, isn't it?
In any event, I think we can infer that there is not a pro-suit consensus in the international masters community. The FINA Bureau, I understand, is not made up of member federations but is instead made up of (you guessed it) bureaucrats (and ones with a terrible conflict of interest since they are paid in part by sponsorships by the suit manufacturers). We are not going to get more of a consensus view of the swimming community than what came out of the FINA committee. Having said that, I think despite the wording of the choice, many people probably believed it to mean that they would abide by the FINA decision. So even among the hard core we are about 40/30 split in favor of a suit ban with a large possible undecided contingent.
How do you know? I was under the impression that the current international masters consensus was pro-suit. Do you know what the other federations recommended? (Or was your "they" meant to refer to FINA?)
Midas, I meant the delegates did not vote on the compromise proposal that was submitted to FINA. That just came out of committee and went directly to FINA.
I agree with Jim that those swimmer that never compete shouldn't really care or vote on what we wear. I understand Chris' point about potential competitors or theoretical "barriers to entry." But the idea that a workout-only swimmer with a purist bent could conceivably dictate what I compete in bugs the hell out of me.
My guess is that most workout only swimmers don't care one way or another, so maybe you can take comfort in that. Obviously even occasional competitors should have a say.
As far as the international consensus, here's what we know: (1) We (USMS) wanted a compromise, (2) at least a majority voted in favor of an outright suit ban. From that we can infer that somebody else proposed/favored an outright ban over a compromise or "anything goes." And I would suspect that at least a few of the other major international masters federations were represented at that meeting. I don't know how voting works, though (do we get a larger vote based on our relative size, or is every federation, regardless of size, on equal footing). I wish this information was made public and frankly its unacceptable that it isn't. This is our organization, isn't it?
In any event, I think we can infer that there is not a pro-suit consensus in the international masters community. The FINA Bureau, I understand, is not made up of member federations but is instead made up of (you guessed it) bureaucrats (and ones with a terrible conflict of interest since they are paid in part by sponsorships by the suit manufacturers). We are not going to get more of a consensus view of the swimming community than what came out of the FINA committee. Having said that, I think despite the wording of the choice, many people probably believed it to mean that they would abide by the FINA decision. So even among the hard core we are about 40/30 split in favor of a suit ban with a large possible undecided contingent.
