wrist watches at USMS sanctioned meets

Originally posted by ljlete I don't know specifically but a quick look at the website ( www.fina.org/openwaterrules.html ) didn't show any rule that could be tagged with that interpretation. Also, USA-Swimming would have made that change/interpretation known at the time they did the pool swimmers. Leo just read it all and saw nothing about the swimmers wearing wrist watches. So, my call is that they are allowed in open water swims. Mary

Originally posted by sibleyclan Part 7 of the USA-S rulebook (Open Water Swimming) opens with "USA Swimming Rules and Regulations apply to open water competition, unless specifically indicated otherwise in Part Seven". FINA's open water rules open with "All World Championships, World Cups, and FINA competitions shall be governed by the rules of FINA with the following exceptions and additions." Most regulations are written with a paragraph up front that states applicability and scope of said rule. The long distance section of the usms rules have no such paragraph. So we don't know if the usms long distance arules are in addition to or instead of the regular rules. My notion would be that they are in addition to.

I did ask at my open water swim this weekend and it was the opinion of the referee that watches (for USA-S) were illegal. Part 7 of the USA-S rulebook (Open Water Swimming) opens with "USA Swimming Rules and Regulations apply to open water competition, unless specifically indicated otherwise in Part Seven". FINA's open water rules open with "All World Championships, World Cups, and FINA competitions shall be governed by the rules of FINA with the following exceptions and additions." I scanned the open water rules and saw nothing that addressed this issue so I would assume from this that watches were illegal due to the base rule not being trumped (in either case) by an exception. (I did just scan so could have missed something.)

I'm doing a 2.5KM in Livorno this weekend. I was planning on wearing a watch (just to see my own time at the end of the race, not to pace). I will ask a judge before the race, and see what the Italian FIN take is on this rule. Back on Monday!! Mary

Mary, Is the swim open water? I heard on BBC World that open water swimming has become the thrid most popular overall sport in Europe, even higher in Italy. Does this mean that now that Americans are really playing soccer, Europeans might abandon it? Also, the first protestant church in Italy was in Venice. It was started by a man from Galesburg. His name was Price. He helped Gharibaldi during the unification. It, unfortuneatly wasn't Lutheran. It was sort of Congregational/Anglican. I believe it is stillinthe British conculate there.

i'm glad I read this, since I'm new to racing...As a runner, I wear my watch in races all the time..no rules as far as I know that prohibit this. I also use a watch during my swim workouts b/c I can't see the pace clock very easily--I have one that's smallish and light with a plastic/rubber watchband, so I doubt it could be a problem by way of injuries. But come to think of it, I doubt it would be too helpful to me in a meet, since I'd then have to coordinate diving in with starting a watch, and simply entering the water correctly without my goggles falling off would be sufficient challenge without starting a watch also. :)

Sunday's swim will be an open-water 2.5KM race in the Med sea. I promise to ask judge his call on the wrist watch issue and let you know on Monday. This is a FIN(A) race for competitive swimmers where Masters swimmers are invited to participate, so the rules should be rules... we'll see how they're interpreted! Mary

Good luck with your swim Mary!!

Let the Norwegian Americans show how great they are. I hope you do really well. I checked up on the first Protestan church in Italy. It stillis inthe British conculate in Venice.

Mary, Congratulations on your great swim! Glad you had fun and did so well. Thanks for all the info on the watches. I think that it would bother me to wear a watch too! Frank