I am a 42-year-old Mom of a teen, tween and toddler and this is where I share my insights on parenthood, products, places, people and professional writing (what I do for money).
-
Coming soon — new information on swimsuits!
Posted on January 7th, 2010 No commentsI 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 and Swimsuits and Rules, Oh My!
Posted on June 19th, 2009 6 commentsIt’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 AMSubject: Swift and Hydra not banned by FINA
Good Morning Everyone-
As the confusion surrounding the high performance suits continues I want to share the facts we know regarding the FINA ruling and Nike Performance suits.
1) Nike Suits were not rejected by FINA
2) Nike suits are allowed to be worn in competition in Rome.
FINA is not going to change their current process or rulings. Below, highlighted in blue, I have attached correspondence between Nike Swim and FINA for your review.
As we learn more about the impacts of FINA’s rulings on the swim marketplace we will continue to share as much information as possible. Please feel free to contact Nelson with any questions or concerns you may have.
Nike Swim
From: K.M.
Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 3:45 PM
To: FINA Legal
Subject: RE: NIKE Competition Suit Approval
Dear Mr. M –
Thank you for your time and consideration on this matter.
As I would have hoped for a different outcome, I respect your decision. As you probably are aware we are in the midst of some very unprofessional and unbecoming behavior and comments by certain people connected to the swimming world here in the United States. Mostly regarding, what I believe to be, individual interpretation to the published FINA list.
I do not agree with the actions of these others and have no intention of joining their battle.
Despite the gossip and blatant attempts to remove Nike Swim from Elite competition here in the United States, we are not defeated. We will submit our prior approved Hydra and Swift suits as well as our new development by September 15, 2009 in order to meet the November 1, 2009 deadline.
I look forward to receiving the new regulations or any updates when available from FINA.
Respectfully,
Sr. Vice President – Nike Swim
—–Original Message—–
From: FINA Legal [mailto:legal@fina.org]
Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 5:32 AM
Subject: Re: NIKE Competition Suit Approval
Dear Mrs
Unfortunately the deadline to submit the swimsuits for approval was on 31st March 2009 and at this stage we are not able to receive more swimsuits.
Nevertheless, if your swimsuits approved in the preceding years will be used in ROME 09 please be informed that we will check on site their compliance to the FINA Rules.
Furthermore, I would like to inform you that the new regulations to be applied from 1st January 2010 will be published soon.
Thank you for your kind understanding.
Yours Sincerely,
C.M.
Executive Director
(note: I removed the names from those emails because while I don’t think much privacy is implied in an email communication, I thought it would be more respectful to do so. However, if you want the names and want to email me personally, I will send them to you.)
————-
What a bunch of muckety muck.
Thankfully, USA Swimming realizes that the whole thing is a mess, so the following email was sent to USA Swimming officials telling them that unless a COACH OR A SWIMMER complains about a swimsuit worn by another swimmer, they are to assume the suit it legal:
Sent: Wed Jun 03 22:30:08 2009
Subject: Distinguishing Approved Swimsuits vs. Unapproved Swimsuits at Meets
DATE: June 3, 2009
TO: USA Swimming Officials
FROM: Jim Sheehan, Chair, Officials Committee
SUBJ: Distinguishing Approved Swimsuits vs. Unapproved Swimsuits at Meets
The new rule adopted by USA Swimming (see letter from Bruce Stratton, Rules and Regulations Committee Chair, dated June 1, 2009) regarding swimsuits approved by FINA is going to present some challenges for referees and officials. There are a number of suits, especially older models, that would likely have been approved, but they were simply not submitted to FINA for approval. The practical problem is how to distinguish these suits from those that were not approved. We do not, and likely will not, have access to the list of suits that were actually disapproved. At this point, we believe any suit meeting the exception criteria provided would, in all likelihood, have been approved if submitted. It is virtually impossible for us to attempt to describe or list which suits we think might be acceptable even though not on the list. The exception criterion is intended to provide a straightforward method of identifying acceptable suits that are not on the list.
We do not want officials to become suit inspectors at meets and/or attempt to verify that any suit being worn by a competitor is on the FINA list.
Officials should initially assume that any suit being worn is a legal suit. Unless a coach or swimmer complains that a suit is not legal and it is clearly obvious the suit is a new model technical suit that was not approved, the swimmer should be given the benefit of the doubt. At meets, it would be a good idea to make sure all the coaches are aware of the letter issued on Monday and to have copies of it available for either review by the coaches or distribution.
We are going to have to put some trust in our coaches and athletes and assume they will do the right thing. This is going to require a considerable amount of judgment and use of common sense on the part of the official, but that is nothing different from what we have to do in a lot of existing situations.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding the use of the new rule at meets.
Thanks.
Jim
———-
I heard that at least one USA Swimming official was recently declaring suits “not allowed” at a swim meet in the St. Louis area. It’s only a rumor because I wasn’t there, but if the rumors are true, this official supposedly said that swimmers couldn’t even wear Nike Swift knee suits for competition. An employee of a local swimwear store said parents were storming the store after that meet in an attempt to purchase “approved” suits for their swimmers to wear in upcoming competitions, including the Speedo 2009 International Age Group Meet next weekend. (a side note — Interestingly, you’ve never heard of a Blueseventy International Age Group meet. And, Blueseventy didn’t make it onto the approved list, either. But conspiracies aside for now).
My daughter is attending the Ft. Lauderdale meet next weekend. She’s wearing her Nike Hydra tank suit, which is “allowed” according to USA Swimming rules, because although it’s not on “the list,” it doesn’t go past her pelvis. That’s the suit she was going to wear anyway, because she’s not tapered, so wearing a performance suit or a technical suit would be silly.
Other rumors are flying about in regard to the FINA approval process and Speedo. One rumor says that Speedo has an overstock of LZR’s and needs to unload them before the end of this year because in 2010, the LZR isn’t going to make the cut either.
One thing is for sure: I won’t run out of blogging fodder.
