Other Sport
FINA reject supersuits
2009-05-20 06:50
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Switzerland - Swimming's governing body rejected 10 high-tech racing suits and approved 202 others on Tuesday for the world championships in July.
FINA said in a statement that its expert panel sent back 136 models to the manufacturers, who have 30 days to resubmit modified designs.
A total of 18 out of 21 makers who submitted suits for laboratory tests on thickness, buoyancy and water resistance had designs cleared for competition in 2009.
The approved list did not include polyurethane suits worn by French freestylers Frederick Bousquet and Alain Bernard when they set unofficial world records last month.
Bousquet wore an Italian Jaked 01 model during the fastest men's 50 free, and Bernard wore Arena's X-Glide suit in the men's 100.
It was not clear if the suits were rejected or need to be modified, as FINA did not identify suits or manufacturers that were not approved by the panel at an emergency meeting on Monday.
"We don't want to get into controversy with manufacturers, or get into more speculation," FINA executive director Cornel Marculescu said.
Before the decision was handed down, Bousquet said he would abide by whatever FINA ruled. In fact, he'd already been in talks with another manufacturer in case the Jaked suit was banned.
"I'm not worried about it," the French star said after the Charlotte UltraSwim, where he defeated Michael Phelps in the 100 free while wearing a Jaked suit. "I'll have to adapt to it. I'm not going to try to go against it. I'm not going to try to fight it. I'm not going to complain if the suit is banned. I'm just going to go with FINA. They are the masterminds."
The Jaked 03 design was approved, while Speedo got 12 designs approved in its LZR range worn by the majority of swimmers who set 108 world-record times last year.
Marculescu said ratifying recent world-best times was a separate process that could take weeks to complete.
He told reporters at the organisation's headquarters that the sport needed to "restore credibility" before the July 19-Aug. 2 world championships in Rome.
FINA has been criticised for failing to act more quickly to regulate the water-resistant, buoyancy-aiding suits which have helped smash most of swimming's records in the past 15 months.
"We hope that in Rome, the athletes, coaches and performances will be No. 1 - not the swimsuits," Marculescu said.
American five-time Olympic gold medalist Aaron Peirsol signed with Arena last week and wore the X-Glide for the first time while beating Michael Phelps in the 100m backstroke at the Charlotte UltraSwim meet.
"I'm glad I got to wear it once," Peirsol said on Tuesday. "I wanted to see what all the hullabaloo was about."
FINA appointed experts to try to clarify the rules in a sport where technology has threatened to take center stage from the athletes.
The group, which included national head coaches Mark Schubert of the United States and Australia's Alan Thompson, evaluated 348 swimsuit designs tested by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.
Marculescu said lead scientist Jan-Anders Manson would be pool-side to ensure only approved suits are worn at the worlds.
Suits must be submitted ahead of the championships so they can be tagged before being returned. Swimmers will have their suits verified 20 minutes before a race.
Manson's lab team will conduct a second round of tests later this year. FINA will create a shorter list to regulate race-ready suits that can be used from Jan. 1, 2010.
FINA has already ruled that next year's suits can have a maximum of 50% non-permeable material to be legal.
That will eliminate a generation of polyurethane suits used in recent weeks to set world-record times.
The technology race started when the NASA-tested Speedo LZR suit arrived in February 2008. But it has been outstripped by polyurethane models such as the Italian-made Jaked suit worn by Bousquet and Bernard's Arena X-Glide.