It looks like the Nationals in Puerto Rico were a lot of fun. The reports by Rob Butcher were great, the weather looked good, everyone said they had a great time.... but, let's face it, the swimming was slow. There were only 8 world records by men and 7 by women. I am not a stats guy, but I think that is the lowest number of world records at a Nationals LCM meet since I started Masters swimming in 2002.
We know why. We decided to disallow the old tech suits. They help us swim faster. Purists say that is why they were disallowed. No advantage should come to us from our "equipment" seems to be the mentality. Why not? If we applied the same mentality to Track and Field they would not use cleats, would run on cinder (or dirt), pole vaulters would be using bamboo or steel poles, etc. etc. The purist argument strikes me as lame.
How did this happen? After the Worlds (was it last year?) and Biedermann soundly beat Phelps in the 200 free Bowman began talking about holding Phelps out of meets as long as the Jaked and B70 type suits were allowed (he didn't seem to mind when Phelps had the latest tech suit in his LZR at the Olympics....). Lots of folks were fretting over all the new world records. People were paying a lot of attention to swimming. This was bad? I guess it seemed so to some and FINA (we don't really know all the pressures/threats that were brought to bear) decided to ban the "rubberized" tech suits and not allow men to cover their upper body.
Now, the older we get the more loose skin we have and the more resistance we create with our "flabs" in the water. Younger, elite swimmers may not have quite the same problem. US Masters Swimming could have decided that while FINA and US Swimming disallow the old tech suits, we Masters will allow them. What would happen? Actually, from time to time, we would have elite swimmmers drop in to compete in a Masters meet--for fun--to see how fast they could go in a full body tech suit. And that would be entertaining and exciting; plus, we'd still be swimming fast.
The argument that they cost too much is weak since all the suit companies selling the new legal racing jammers charge almost as much for jammers as they did for an entire body suit!
I think it's good for our sport that swimmers can age up and aim to break a world record. Sure, it's an "age-group" record but it feels good and it makes for an exciting meet when this is happening. This is much less likely now.
I love to swim and look forward to competing again but, to me, it just never made sense to disallow the equipment that let us swim faster. We will have to make do with the situation right now but let's not pretend we are swimming faster. We're not.
We all need to work on core body strength if we want to swim as fast as we did with the suits. Either way swimming is good and meets are fun.
I do believe 'World Records" are very special and really we shouldn't expect to see them blown away every year.
US Masters Swimming could have decided that while FINA and US Swimming disallow the old tech suits, we Masters will allow them. What would happen?
....
I think it's good for our sport that swimmers can age up and aim to break a world record. Sure, it's an "age-group" record but it feels good and it makes for an exciting meet when this is happening. This is much less likely now.
FINA won't accept a time for WR or top ten consideration unless they are done without the cheating suits. So how exactly would it cause more records to be set if USMS allowed the suits?
Time to man up.
FINA won't accept a time for WR or top ten consideration unless they are done without the cheating suits. So how exactly would it cause more records to be set if USMS allowed the suits?
Time to man up.
I'll second that Chris.
We will have to make do with the situation right now but let's not pretend we are swimming faster. We're not.
That's funny, because to me that was exactly the situation when tech suits were allowed. It gave everyone a false sense that they were swimming faster than ever.
I know most contributors to the Forum don't agree with me
I'm not so sure about that. There was plenty of support for the suits here.
Although I've always generally been in favor of getting rid of the tech suits, I will admit I loved swimming with them for many of the reasons you mentioned. I trained hard this summer, but didn't feel great in the water at my taper meet. How much of this was because I was wearing jammers rather than a tech suit? I don't know, but I do know I always felt great swimming with my Blue Seventy suit, even when I wasn't in great shape. Lots of people have mentioned that swimming in tech suits is fun and I can't help but agree with them.
I think the best course of action would have been if FINA never allowed them in the first place--at least the non-textile suits. It's very difficult to put the genie back in the bottle. If we hadn't been able to use these suits in the first place we wouldn't realize what we're missing now.
Chris knows far more about this sport than I and he is a hellofalot better swimmer, so I should probably defer to his opinion to "man up."
I guess my point of view -- which you don't need to be an expert in swimming to have -- is that all these arguments have already been made and the deed is done at the international level. Like it or not, FINA made its decision. I think it would be a huge mistake for USMS to deviate for FINA in meters meets, and I don't think that is even being seriously considered. So I mean "man up" in the sense of accepting the situation as it stands. Swimming is bigger than the suits, as wookiee implies.
For SCY we'll still be hearing all the same old arguments for the next month or so. So fire away.
No advantage should come to us from our "equipment" seems to be the mentality. Why not? If we applied the same mentality to Track and Field they would not use cleats, would run on cinder (or dirt), pole vaulters would be using bamboo or steel poles, etc. etc. The purist argument strikes me as lame.
i'm sure the track and field community would welcome you as their newest member.... and as far as i know, you can still wear that blue 70 for the hurdles.
I'll second that Chris.
I will third Chris' statement. I was at nationals. While I have been for keeping fullbody TEXTILE suits, I had a blast swimming at this meet. I wore jammers. I didn't think twice about not having coverage on my hairy upperbody.
People were still excitied watching close races at the meet. Yea, world records are nice but the excitement of seeing close finishes is even more exciting.
I would rather had my placings at nationals than any record. The records can be broken. My results from this meet can't be taken away.
Chris knows far more about this sport than I and he is a hellofalot better swimmer, so I should probably defer to his opinion to "man up." Maybe I don't feel the need. I thought it was fun to get the suits, see what other folks had, etc. I also thought it was physique enhancing and I enjoyed that aspect of Masters meets too, as social and as frivolous as that may be.
Bottom line, we enjoy swimming and racing and will do it anyway. I guess I don't think it is more manly to swim without the "cheating" suits. I know most contributors to the Forum don't agree with me but I felt like giving my opinion.
On a practical note, especially for really hairy guys, wearing a full body suit meant they didn't have to shave and go through the stubble trouble when it grows back. Of course, no one "has" to shave.
As to the meet in PR. I wasn't there. I was simply reading results and I missed the atmosphere. I am sure it was a great meet and congrats to all of you who competed.
gshaw saidWe will have to make do with the situation right now but let's not pretend we are swimming faster. We're not.
I flat out disagree with using the number of USMS/World records as a basis for comparison between Nationals. I respectively think the number of records has more to do with "who" shows up at the meet vs assessing how the people at the meet swam. I swam in Puerto Rico in jammers (not even high-tech jammers). My 50 free was 2 tenths faster than last summer wearing a body suit. My 200 fly was only 5 hundredths slower than my time from 2006 Worlds when I wore a bodysuit. My 50 back was only 6 one hundredths slower than 2006 Worlds. My 100 back was 2 tenths faster than 2006 Worlds. Blah blah blah. I'm only one data point and it is just as wrong to declare the meet a success based on my swimming. But I do disagree with the assessment that the ban of tech suits is the reason so few records were broken in Puerto Rico. Perhaps the ban of tech suits kept the top swimmers away from the meet, but many of those at the meet swam well. If the ban simply kept the top swimmers away from the meet, none of the swimmers who did show up at the meet were sorry to move up a few places in the medal results!:banana:
