The world governing body of swimming (FINA), led by executive director Cornel Marculescu, might make further changes to its swimsuit rules in January. (Max Rossi, Reuters)
Just weeks after adopting new rules designed to end the controversy over high-tech, full-body suits, the world swimming governing body (FINA) is having second thoughts and considering tinkering with its swimwear regulations as early as January, several U.S and international officials said.
Since FINA decided in late July to allow only waist-to-knee textile suits for men and neck-to-knee textile suits for women, the governing body has been under pressure to make men’s and women’s swimsuits equal in size, the officials said.
“There’s an enormous amount of pressure on the FINA Bureau [the 22-member executive leadership] now to have the body coverage be the same for men as for women,” USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus said. “We are very concerned that FINA might not stick with what was approved in Rome by the FINA Congress.”
USA Swimming had put forth the proposed rule changes that were adopted by a nearly unanimous vote of the congress — FINA’s more than 200 member nations — before this summer’s world championships in Rome, but the national governing bodies for Great Britain and Australia kicked off a re-thinking of the ban just days after the vote, officials said.
Both sent letters to the governing body proposing equal body coverage for men and women.
British Swimming Chief Executive David Sparkes said in an e-mail that the British governing body would take no action beyond the letter it sent, but added, “no doubt this matter will be given further consideration…”
Said Swimming Australia spokesman Lachlan Searle: “Swimming Australia had raised with FINA in Rome the possibility of equality for male and female in neck to knee coverage in relation to the proposed new swim suit ruling. However, at this stage we have had no advice from FINA that it has any intention of changing its proposed rule….”
Indeed, a spokesperson for FINA said no such proposal was yet on the agenda of the next FINA Bureau meeting, tentatively scheduled for Jan. 15-16 in Bangkok, Thailand. But the proposal would be added to the agenda if put forward by a FINA committee, and FINA’s technical committee plans to consider it in November, according to Carol Zaleski, the chair of the committee.
Zaleski said FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculescu instructed her in an email to add the suit issue to the technical committee’s agenda.
“I truly don’t understand where Australia and Great Britain are coming from on this,” Zaleski said by phone Tuesday. “Why anyone is having second thoughts afterward I don’t quite get. For me, it’s common sense: men’s and women’s suits have always been different for obvious reasons.”
UPDATE: Italy joined the call for full suits above the waist for men when the vice president of the Italian swim federation, Giovanni Rosaia, wrote to all members of the FINA Bureau saying the different suits represented discrimination, swimnews.com reported Sept. 5.
Zaleski said she did not know where the other 14 members of the technical committee stood on the issue.
She and other officials speculated that the coverage issue was less about equality of the sexes than sponsorship concerns — and the legal ones that tend to arise when sponsors feel threatened.
Sponsor logos are readily visible on suits that extend over the chest, but they can’t be seen well – particularly when swimmers are still in the water – on the men’s waist-to-knee “jammers.”
USA Swimming officials say the rules enacted this summer were designed to minimize the impact of suits and put the focus on the swimmer. That, they said, should be sport officials’s highest priority.
Speedo’s Craig Brommers, senior vice president of marketing, said in a statement that although Speedo did not agree with the drastic change in suit profile, the company would comply with the new rules. Brommer did not comment on the proposal to equalize men’s and women’s suits.
“Despite the decision to return to jammers for men and open back knee-skin suits for women,” Brommers said, “Speedo will continue to work with the world’s leading athletes, coaches and experts to develop the most innovative swimwear and equipment.”
Australian Coach Alan Thompson was among a handful of coaches that met before the FINA Congress to hammer out the details of USA Swimming’s proposed ban. At the time, Zaleski said, everyone was on board with the changes.
“I’m not sure what it’s about, to be honest,” Zaleski said. “Why the change in position relatively overnight?”
Searle and Sparkes offered only brief statements with no elaboration on their proposals.
Since FINA adopted the current ban, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and National Federation of State High School Associations put similar bans in place. USA Swimming, meantime, planned to formally adopt the ban at its annual meeting in two weeks, setting an immediate implementation date.
But, Wielgus said, members and officials were concerned about what might take place at the international level.
During this summer’s FINA Congress, the membership voted to put control of the suit issue in the hands of the FINA Bureau so that as technology changed, the organization would be in position to react quickly.
The intention of that change, Zaleski said, was not to have the bureau undo various aspects of the ban six months later.
“We’re actually kind of anxious about that,” Wielgus said. “What we’re saying to [FINA] is the membership was very clear. We certainly hope they are still with that.”
stats corner
Ahhh FINA… they have no idea what they are doing. Who is more important? sponsors, swimmers, sponsors, swimmers? So sad. Swimmers of the world unite and start your own governing body, by swimmers, and for the swimmers.
Don’t like FINA’s decision? Wait a week, it will change.
Lionel:
I believe that’s what USA swimming and some other countries were trying to do at Worlds this past July..They pretty much said “No way” to the postponement of the “plastic “suit restrictions when Fina started backpedaling and wanted to put off the enforcement day until May..
USA swimming has the opportunity to be a leader and make a stand ..enforce the policy starting Oct 1st for all USA competitions. To be honest, 99% of American swimmers are swimming short course yards until May and our fastest swimmers i.e. our college and post grad swimmers are still either in a yard pool (ncaa’s) or if they are swimming internationally ( maybe 10-20) the 2 winter scm meets that are international are not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. We are doing our own thing in a yard pool and since the rest of the world is SCM, we might as well take this opportunity to set things right
It would be nice to see us take the high road..Judging by Schubert’s and Bowmans and most of the other top level coaches that is what they would like.
Amy, what do the local coaches think?
I competed in FINA swimming events last month (Aug. 2009) at the World Police & Fire Games, in Vancouver, BC. There were 65 sports being contested among athletes from all over the world. Of all the sports’ Governing Bodies overseeing these 10-days of competition, FINA was the one deemed to be “least in touch and most out of control” according to a random survey of athletes.
Thanks for posting your thoughts. It’s been a busy day, but I will try to get some reaction soon. I do sense the United States will fight this one out … We’ll see.
Hell, Yeah!
The sport will continue to grow!
What would happen if we allowed “anything goes”? No rules; no restrictions for competitive swimwear. Eventually, that’s the way it will be, but in the meantime, let’s argue about the “sanctity and fairness” of the sport. I wish we all wore thongs, but FINA wouldn’t know how to test and validate those suits, either. If all suits were legal their prices would eventually plummet, interest in the sport would skyrocket, and the best swimmers would still win.
We are not going back to wooden tennis rackets, either. Rest assured, whatever decision FINA makes will be the wrong one.
Unbelievable, if true. However, this article doesn’t really provide any facts supporting the idea that FINA might want to change the rules again. It only proves that some (UK/AUS) people are not happy with the new rules. Let’s hope that FINA can withstand some pressure.
This suit thing is like a yo yo! Just tell me what the outcome is when they finalize it please!
It is terrible when the only words to describe this ordeal are seen as profane in the eyes of many.
Equal coverage? When the world and FINA agrees that it is inappropriate for people to see mens’ nipples and pecs, then we should have equal coverage. Until that happens, girls get girls’ suits and boys get boys’ suits.
Way to go FINA, make swimming and yourself the laughing stock of Sport Governing Bodies around the globe.
Tony? hell, no? It is a sport of mastery not a sport of mastercard.
Coach Erik et al.
From where I’m sitting FINA while already a laughing stock in the eyes of many should not be ridiculed further as this article clearly reports that the UK and Austrailian federations have made representations to FINA that the suits be equalized.
FINA have been badly at fault previously (IMHO) but let’s wait to see if they move on this before we all burst into uncontrollable laughter.
I also agree with your Mastercard allusion. Hell, no!
FINA should allowe full leg suits for men but only textile non of that polyurethane material
I want to address, one more time, the flawed analogy to tennis, biking and other sports with respect to technology. With tennis you NEED a racket, in biking you need a bike. In those sports it not a question of whether to have technology, just how much. And they do regluate the technology, heavily. In swimming you don’t need a suit. We have suits for modesty, really. The goal should be that the swimmer goes no faster with a particular suit than they would go without it. Limiting the coverage of the suit is a good proxy for that goal, in my opinion.
FINA is finally on the right track, I hope this doesn’t derail them.
I think they should let the girls wear suits from their neck to waist. For guys though they should allow them to wear suits from their waist to their ankles. I’m a guy and i don’t really want to wear a suit from my neck to my knees unless i could wear a full body suit which was banned. I would rather wear a leg suits.
Name one sport that has not evolved (including gear that has not evolved with it) that is relevant in today’s culture. Just saying.
I’ll throw you an example: Soccer. The balls are a more durable, and the shin guards made of plastic, but technologically pretty stable for over 50 years, and the single most popular sport in the entire world.
Besides, if relevance in todays culture comes with cheating, win at all costs, drugs, crime and violence, see eg Football, Basketball and Baseball, arguably the three big money sports in America, leave me out of it.
Peter – respectfully, I disagree. Soccer has changed dramatically over the last 50 years. Sure, it’s kicking a ball, but everything other than that, from the shoes the players wear and the way they adhere to the ground to the balls they kick being made of lighter composite elements has changed. These things change not only the tempo of the game, but the speed on the field that it is played. World cup soccer teams trend younger than they did 15 years ago.
Regardless of your feelings about the state of sports within the United States, a sport has to have young people interested in it in order to survive – without youth, it will die. Kids today have many more choices than they did even 15 years ago, and not all of them are sports related. You have to have a hook. I think the things swimming does well – time management, dedication to excellence, struggling for success – are lost on many parents who are looking for something for their kids to do. Many get it, but lots don’t.
In order for swimming to survive, it needs to be relevant. While the plastic suits relevancy is a matter of opinion, there is no question of the impact they have had on many young people within the sport and the level of excitement they brought. Balancing the evolving technology is the key, and I’m just not convinced that a luddite’s view is the way to go. It certainly did not work out for them. Again – just saying!
I take back what I wrote previously. I am now OPPOSED to wearing high-tech swimwear.
Peter explained how, if we allow swimmers to wear high-tech suits, it will lead to a culture of cheating, drugs, crime, and violence. I’ve been wondering why I recently developed an insatiable thirst for Quentin Tarantino movies and Bud Light…it all started when I bought that BlueSeventy suit!
atarijpb – respectfully, I also disagree. While soccer has changed during the last 50 years there is nothing in uniform upgrades which dramatically impacts player performance. It’s true that footwear has become lighter but that does not give an increase in speed. The uniform has changed little, other than style and material, none of which improves speed or endurance. The increases in speed and endurance are a direct result of; improved fitness, training techniques, nutrition, etc etc. Exactly the same as swimming until the introduction of ‘the suits’.
drmst6
I suppose it could be worse. That blueseventy could have gotten you hooked on a beer worse than Bud Light. Oh, wait, there is no beer worse than bud light.
Swimming is never going to be basketball or football, and I’m not covinced yet that it should try. If the only way we can “hook” more kids is through the artificial boost of the suits, then we may have to figure out how to get along without them.
I’m not arguing that the suits do or do not do anything (personally, I think they do – for some a lot more than others.) I am saying that by placing a ban on the evolution of the suits may not be the best thing for the sport.
Other sports have evolved. Swimming has to ride a fine line between evolution and history. I am just not sure this ban is the way to go.
Also – I still disagree about soccer. The tech of the shoes and the ball make it a different game. Just my opinion! If we want to get into the idea of upgrades, couldn’t you make an argument that the suits pre-plastic era (Fastskin, Aquablade, etc…) were radically different than what was worn in the 60′s? Should we allow goggles? Don’t those allow a significant advantage in training, and noted by Sherm Chavoor in his book “The 50-Meter Jungle?”
All advances in gear create change – some more than others, some not as noteworthy at the time. I think what is so off-putting for so many is the quick and devastating way the suits changed the game. Other thoughts?
Since men and women rarely race together, there is no advantage or disadvantage because of the amount of skin that is showing. If it’s a sponsorship issue, why don’t the swimmers wear logo baseball caps on the blocks and take tham off before “Take your mark,” like the racing drivers take off their helmets and put on the sponsor’s cap for the cameras. The men also could have a waterproof stick-on sponsor’s logo on their chests. That would not slow them down. And most soccer at kid level elsewhere in the world is played without shin guards with whatever ball is handy. That’s about the extent of soccer “technology.” If a boy is going to start swimming because he wants a swim suit that looks like what the girls wear, we are in more trouble than we think.
When Fina came out with the 50% permeability ruling for Jan 1, 2010…I thought that was fair and would eliminate the polyurethane suits. Bodysuit have been around for something like 9 years. What is the big deal. Bodysuits with 50% permeability is a step forward, one not to big. 100% polyuthane suits was too much. Really, a swimsuit resisitance to water shouldn’t be that much less than the best that natural skin gives. A few of you out there won’t believe it, the skin has a different friction factor from individual to individual. So if one is born with big feet, big hands, tall and with the right skin he’ll /she’ll maybe will a top swimmer if they’re cordinated.
This summer FINA with all the rule changes seem to be random and done without much thought. Why move a sport back 10 years or more. All the rule changes caught people off guard and now a lot of swimmers and bussiness have an LZR that won’t be worth anything in a few months or weeks. But the USA Youth Team will go to Europe this Winter and compete in the FINA SCM World Cup series wearing the hi tech suits. If Jan 1, 2010 was go enough for the Europeans it should be go enough for us swimming in the USA Swimming meets and in Europe. Otherwise, USA Swimming could be safely label as hypocritics.
My position, Bodysuits 50% permeability and the manufactures drop the price!
How will you know if the suit is actually 50% permeable? How do you propose we effectively track and monitor all the suits being made, from manufacturer, to retail outlet, to buyer (swimmer)? No one is going to test the suits on site, and counterfeiting labels is a growth industry world-wide.
There is a product now being developed which decreases the permeability of fiberous materials and adds tremendous bouancy to the fabric, simply by soaking the garment overnight. Once the material dries, there is negligible weight increase of the original fabric.
Well Amy….Looks like Craig Lord is taking aim at you for writing this article. Craig Lord just writes a lot of B.S. and likes seeing his name in print. I think he is bad for swimming and needs to go if one can’t comment on his articles. Bodysuits been around for 9 years, so what is the problem! Problems don’t hang around for 9 years waiting to be fixed. I feel some of the Federation are upset with Jaked and other new suit makers because no or little money flowed back to them. This was an easy way to get rid of them and go back to what was before with the suit makers sending money to the Federations pockets in order to do busy. All that does is drive up the cost of a swimsuit. Its all politics…..
drmst6…those product you are talking about have been around for a number of years being used in different industrial applications. Anything is possible in this hi tech World. Just think, the web has only been around something like 15 years and now someone may have found a vacine for Aids and less people are dying from cancer than every before in history. So, anything is possible and in the swimming world sme people can’t handle new technology. They would rather live in the “Stone Age”.
FINA YOU ARE SOOOO STUPID!!!!!