Textile-Only Suits?

ok, both of my daughters purchased the blue seventy with their own hard earned $, along with other kids in out club, after they watched a chance at WPIAL's go down the drain - we were too late on getting in on the action for HS WPIALS/States, but they wanted to be able to try for Sectionals...So as age group champs, my girls along with a few others wore their suits - I as a parent have not ever gotten so much grief from fellow club parents about how my kids are cheating - I can't believe this - they are (were) legal suits and to be honest, one of my girls actually gained time in her events while the other lost time but nothing mind blowing...but it mentally put them in a good place until one of their Coaches told them their times did not count and that they would have to re earn their times...what???? THey earned them - heck you can throw the blue seventy in the water and it will not win the race or swim on it's own - it is the swimmer and their athletic ability that gets the suit to move - what is the big deal about these suits that people are in such an uproar! I have had enough...I am tired of defending my girls for their accomplishments that they have achieved through hard work and dedication...funny when they gain time in events wearing the Blue seventy that no one takes notice...only if they take time off and then all heck breaks loose. To top it all off, to attend a meet this weekend and not be DQ'd for swimwear, I had to go purchase the Speedo FS Pro (knee) for them to be legal but no one will blink over these...just the blue seventy.... This is getting TOTALLY out of hand! I guess as a parent I an helping boost the economy...but I agree FINA is to blame and they continue to keep digging their hole bigger and BIGGER....
They need to get this right and fast or all of the hard work that all of the swimmers have put in in for nothing.......

M. It's a deep hole they've created, and with swimmers and parents like you all over the world, who were doing what was right and legal, spending hard earned money now, according to FINA, have to toss all that aside and purchase new suits. The first cry that came out about the "tech suits" was the cost... how expensive they were. However, FINA's dirt slowness in reacting and continuing to allow the suits to be worn, and FINA themselves supporting them by continuing to market the new World Records set in them continued more and more people purchasing these suits. They were not only the initiators of the problem, they perpetuated it. Now, the initial costs to swimmers and parents are going to double, or triple based on nobody knowing WHAT they're going to decide or what the courts are going to force them to do.

Again, FINA is the problem, NOT the manufacturers, and "reporters" injecting their stories with person opinions which sway many of the swimming population toward believing the manufacturers are the problem aren't helping the situation at all. Here's a recent snippet which was very subtly slipped into an article over the weekend by the same "reporter"... "Irie is living at a time of turmoil in his sport, which in 2008 tipped from being a technique-based sport towards being an equipment-based sport." http://swimnews.com/News/view/6914

As you've stated M, equipment does not make the swimmer go fast, but according to this article, the entire sport has become "equipment based". Man how I wish that was true... at my age, I don't like working so hard, but only those who have approached this sport from a theoretical point of view seem to think that's the case.

Glenn, may I suggest the amount that the equipment plays on the sport as a time comparison between 1st place and the other competitors at the world level versus the time difference between using an older model suit and a newer model. When I see someone get up on the blocks with lycra briefs against someone in a full body neoprene suit and remain competitive, I'm impressed.

If we take this back a few years and remember when Popov climbed onto the blocks as the only competitor in briefs, THAT was more impressive now than it was back then. The sound seems messed up on this, but look at the jammers, pants, full body, and then Popov in his briefs. FINA only has to look at their own history to know the rules allow for may variations in suits. I do totally agree with your take that FINA needs new directorship, but you know politics... men in power don't like to be displaced... they just want more power.

I understand... but in that regard, he's no longer a "reporter", but should describe himself as a "blogger". Reporters have no bias, bloggers can say anything they want. That's what I always thought the difference was. If I want swimming news, I'm going to Swimming World and Jason Marsteller. If I want opinions, I go to SCAQ, the17thman, robaquatics, and a few select others. Those sites are clearly defined as to what they are. Pick a lane and stay there. :)

Glenn, thanks for sticking up for the manufacturers on this argument. Too often we are seen as the opportunists and not as innovators. Blue Seventy was spending money on R&D and promotions (including sponsoring FINA) and then they get the rug pulled out from under them just as their momentum was really peaking. Now, they are scrambling to re-engineer a suit to a moving FINA target, spending more money to defend their reputation as ugly words get thrown at them like "cheating" and all they did was try to advance the sport within the rules at the time. Imagine the swim industry jobs that will be lost when their revenue steam dries up from this decision flip flop. This is going to hit all the suit companies. No Titan from TYR, Jaked comes and goes in about three months and you have to imagine that Speedo was spending cash to catch up, all for nothing. In my opinion, FINA's actions are shameful, they are punishing swimmers, parents and manufactures for their own lack of process.

Great point, reporters report and bloggers gossip.

What a great video, just 8 years old, Popov in a brief, no cap and bent arms!

FINA has always been in this sport for the prestige (bureau member) and the money. It's taken a long time to get them to a point where they even listen to swimmers let alone the lonely bottom feeders called coaches. Might get too dirty if they do. They've ended up with both of them in a vice on this one, and although I can understand Glenn's point, we're all to blame in some ways. Yes FINA has more than a throbbing toe after dropping that lead ball, but swimming should have nipped this in the bud a long time ago. We should have been more determined in 2000 to block the proliferation of a technical area that was heavily biased based on body type and training background. We knoew it then and it's even worse now. The people out there might find it laudible that Popov swam in briefs, but hey against technology that's like taking a knife to a gun fight. Wasn't even good enough for a medal, and he was the world record holder. WOO HOO. Did you ever wonder why Thorpe never swam in the same suit, they were always cut off, and no one ever saw the ones he'd used. I'm not discounting his talent and legacy, but the era from 1999 to 2007 was like that period where people cried foul about the East Germans, and not a soul listened, (70's) because nobody could see it. Least of all FINA. Well hell in 2008 those suits became front page news, and haven't left since. The purists in this sport had a heart attack and almost endorsed self flagellation for not sticking to their guns in 1999.

So some people only gained .03% from the 2000 suit, and not much more from anything beyond that until the FS Pro came out in '07. That suit caused a ripple, but not to the extent that adding non permeable & non textile based fabrics did. All of those who worked at the elite end had to see it coming... but like a lot of things I don't think they expected it to be this bad... if they'd known would they have let it get this far. So I think we're all responsible in many ways, and that includes the manufacturers since although they are chasing the almighty dollar that's linked to performance prestige, they still have the option to take the high road and do what's best for the sport. But then again high morals don't go hand in hand with money, and even though they'll couch everything they do as being good for the sport, how to rationalize sitting in a boardroom and knowingly build something that YOU KNOW is illegal. So c'mon... quit picking on that bunch who had no clue what this would do. We've seen it coming... we just didn't have the sense to step off the tracks before it hit us.

I'm staying out of the suit wars, but just want to let you know the the tested list is published (I got it in my email last week). I have not heard anything about further changes from any of my reliable sources, and I have heard that FINA will (or has somewhere) published they're new suit rules. I also heard that they are having some independent lab (like in Switzerland??) test them.

The best suggestion that I have heard so far for the current stock of Blue 70s (by the way, masters has not ruled on suits yet as far as I know) is to make a deal with USA Swimming for them to be the new officials uniform. Many of us could use the "slimming effect" on deck as well.