Coming soon — new information on swimsuits!

I keep getting inquiries about the 2010 swim suits, but I’m not an expert and have as many questions as the next person. So I’ve decided to resort to my “journalism” days and do some old-fashioned phone interviews of a few experts. I’m gathering my notes and promise to write up the information in the next week. Stay tuned, and if you don’t already subscribe to my site, do so in the right hand corner.

FINA Bans Tech Suits for 2010

I’ve written so much about the whole tech suit thing here that I felt obligated to update my site with this information. But, I’m going to be lazy and simply post some links for you.

Here’s one article.

And here’s another.

My daughter’s Blueseventy is a year old, so I feel like she’s gotten our money’s worth out of it. But I really feel for the people who have dropped hundreds of dollars in the last few months. How frustrating!

Blueseventy Makes a Splashback

Blueseventy, among others, won a victory last Friday when FINA added the the company’s tech suits to its list of approved suits for swimming competition. Here is the statement issued by FINA. And hereis the statement issued by Blueseventy.

I don’t know how many tech suits that had been on the “need to be modified” list made it onto the approved list as a result of FINA’s June 19 ruling and I don’t have time to do a list-by-list comparison right now. But I’m very happy Blueseventy managed to make the cut because my daughter and many of her teammates own one.

The whole tech suit issue is very controversial, and I’ve written about that controversy here and here and here. To further complicate things, FINA didn’t address ALL swimsuits on their list, and some companies, such as Nike, didn’t submit their suits for approval because the suits aren’t technical suits and therefore, the company didn’t think they needed approval.  I wrote about that problem, and USA Swimming’s response, here.  So, people who have purchased Nike Swift knee and leg suits, and Nike Hydra knee and leg suits may still be wondering if those swimsuits are allowed in competition this summer.

It’s complicated. And if I didn’t already own a Blueseventy or a LZR or a Jaked or one of the other technical suits, I don’t know if I’d go buy one before 2010.  The rumor mill is still alive and well in the swimming community, and some say all tech suits will be banned in 2010.

FINA and Swimsuits and Rules, Oh My!

It’s time to talk racing suits again. I can think of a couple of words that really describe the whole mess surrounding high-tech suits, FINA’s regulations, “the list“, USA Swimming’s muddled response and the misinterpretation of said response by at least ONE Ozark Swimming official, but this is a family-friendly blog.

I had heard that more clarification would be coming down the pipe today from USA Swimming, but at this writing, nothing has yet been made public.

Here’s the problem. FINA issued a list of approved swimsuits but that list was limited to TECHNICALsuits such as the Speedo LZR  and the Blueseventy (not approved).  Hundreds of swimming suits aren’t technical suits. Unfortunately, USA Swimming issued this statement, which basically states that only “swimwear approved by FINA, as reflected on its published list of approved swimwear, may be worn in any USA Swimming sanctioned or approved competition.”

To put it in the wise words of my teen, “That was a fail!”

USA Swimming went on to say that until FINA gets around to publishing a more comprehensive list, swimmers may wear suits NOT on the list if they meet certain criteria, such as not going past the pelvis on females or the knees on males. That means that Nike Swift and Nike Hydra leg suits and knee suits for women are not allowed. Nike didn’t even submit those suits for FINA approval because the suits HAD ALREADY BEEN APPROVED FOR COMPETITION AND THEY ARE NOT TECHNICAL SUITS. Can you see how ridiculous this is becoming? But, the deadline for submitting the suits has passed, and FINA didn’t seem to realize how much  muck they were throwing into the pool by publishing a list of “approved” swimwear.

Here is a copy of some email correspondence between a representative from Nike and FINA:

From: N.D. 
Sent: Jun 8, 2009 10:11 AM 

Subject: Swift and Hydra not banned by FINA

USA Swimming Rules on Tech Suits

Big surprise — USA Swimming amended its rules regarding swimsuits and did little or nothing to clear things up.  Read for yourself here. It reads to me like a big wad of red tape. And it sounds like a whole lot of swimsuits that AREN’T high tech suits are now not allowed until such time as FINA publishes a complete list of approved suits – tech and non-tech.

What a mess. No one is going to be happy except the attorneys.

In the meantime,  Blueseventy is promising more information by 1 p.m. PST Wednesday on the company’s efforts to get their suit moved to the approved list.

Murky Waters Regarding Tech Suits

UPDATE 6/1/09: More here.

It’s all so confusing. I keep sitting down to right about these tech suits — which ones are banned, which ones need to be modified, what that means for upcoming swim meets, etc. But I read news articles and press releases and blog posts  and just get more confused.

If you own a Blueseventy, you might want to keep an eye on the company’s blog. It seems to be a good source of information.

This article does a good job describing that “chaos reigns” when it comes to decisions about the tech suits.

I am of the opinion that if the Blueseventy Nero Comp was made by Speedo – and thus called the Speedo Nero Comp – the suit would have been approved by FINA just like the Speedo LZR was approved. You’ve never heard of the USA Blueseventy Swimming Championships, or the Blueseventy International Age Group Meet. But if you’re a member of the swim community, you’ve certainly heard of the Speedo Swimming Championships or the Speedo International Age Group Meet. It’s all about influence and money. Blueseventy hasn’t been paying to play long enough, I guess.

I’m anxious to see how it plays out, but I’m not holding my breath. I think it will be a long time before anyone is able to see clearly in these murky waters.

FINA’s Recent Ruling on High-tech Suits Raises Questions

UPDATE 6/1/09: More here.

UPDATE 5/29/09: More here.

UPDATE 5/28/09: I know I should update this post, but I still don’t have many  more answers and I’ve been crazy busy with the end of school. I’m not ignoring the topic, but I think things pretty much stand the way they did when I first wrote this post. The Blueseventy is still on the “needs to be modified” list and I think there are dozens, if not hundreds, of attorneys involved at this point on behalf of Blueseventy and the other brands that were either banned or are being required to be modified, as well as for the swimmers whose world records are in question, even though they were swimming in suits that were considered legal at the time they set them. The waters are still very muddy.

UPDATE 5/21/09: USA Swimming, as expected, is not taking any action at this time but will support the FINA regulations when it does take action. See the statement here.

Also, Steve Nicolls of Blueseventy left the comment below on this blog.

“Thanks for the posts, nice to see such a proactive community both for and against.
To clear up a few points mentioned below:
1/ Our suit passed the buoyancy and thickness tests, it does not float, and is not a wetsuit.
2/ the materials in the jaked suit are (to my knowledge) not chloroprene like the our blueseventy nero suits or the TYR titan.
3/ We launched a buy back program 2-3 weeks ago I believe, where any suits bought between now and the end of the year we would buuy back at approx 50% of the purchase price applied as a credit on the 2010 FINA legal model.
4/ Interesting the comments re: pockets of air being the reason the suit is fast… one of the most popular strokes for our suit has been breaststroke, while I’ll not admit to being a total swim geek and having intimate knowledge of breaststroke stroke mechanics, my discussions with athletes on product design has been that of all the strokes this is the one that has the most time underwater…. which would kind of mean that buoyancy assistance is not an advantage…thoughts….
If you have any other questions regarding the suits you would like answered please feel free to mail me:
Steve@blueseventy.com Steve@blueseventy.com, check our website, or our blog…

—–

As is the case with most governing bodies, and as is the case with most decisions made by governing bodies, FINA’s ruling Tuesday on High-tech racing suits leaves as many questions as answers.

This article goes into more detail, stating:

“After reviewing 348 swimsuits from 21 manufacturers,” FINA said in a statement, “the FINA Executive decided the following: 202 swimsuits approved, 10 swimsuits rejected for not passing the tests of buoyancy and/or thickness.”

FINA said 136 other swimsuits needed to be modified to meet the requirement that “swimsuit material shall not be constructed to or include elements/systems which create air/water trapping effects during use.”

FINA said the manufacturers had until June 19 to “resubmit the same swimsuit for FINA approval, with the corresponding corrections.”

My personal interest is that my daughter has a Blueseventy, which is not on the approved list. It is among the among the suits on the list that need to be modified. Blueseventy released this statement about the ruling. So I have a lot of questions:

• Can Blueseventy appeal the ruling?
• If Blueseventy makes the modifications to their suit and gets it approved by FINA, what happens to all the suits already purchased (at a hefty price tag, I might add)? Will Blueseventy replace those suits? Pay to modify those suits? Give a credit toward a modified suit?
• Is this ruling effectively immediately? In other words, can swimmers who own suits not on the approved list wear them until all of the appeals, etc., are complete?
• I have a friend who recently bought a Nike Swift — also not on the approved list — can that swimmer wear that suit at summer long-course meets?

Of course, on a more “local” level, USA Swimming has yet to make a ruling on this other than the ruling it made last fall.  Ozark Swimming, our swim club’s Local Swim Committee or LSC, adopted the same rules regarding high-tech swimsuits (aka Speedo LZR, Blueseventy) as USA Swimming.  Here is the wording that was adopted by USA Swimming at the 2008 House of Delegates:

Swimsuits worn for all 12 & under age group defined competition shall not cover the neck, extend past he shoulder, nor past the knee.

You can read this ruling  from last fall here.

I suspect USA Swimming, and thus, Ozark, will wait until all the dust settles and all the appeals and modification deadlines are passed before making any new rulings on the suits. That makes sense, but again, it leaves room for lots of questions regarding the summer swim season. Do the current USA Swimming/Ozark rules stand, which means our swimmers who own Blueseventy’s can wear them in summer competition, particularly big meets like Championships, Sectionals and Zones?

Interestingly, FINA approved the Speedo Lzr, worn by Michael Phelps and several other swimmers who set world records in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

I’ve written a lot about the Blueseventy controversy on this blog, and at my previous blogging site. If you choose to comment on this topic, please do so on this site, as I no longer write at the previous site or moderate comments there.  I will approve comments that leave a valid email addresss (which won’t be published, but is simply requested for verification). I will not, however, publish comments that are personal attacks on my family. Unfortunately, this issue has brought out the very worst in some people, so this clarification is necessary.