The ripples of Rijeka will be felt far and wide, long and deep. If the times on the clock were, understandably, celebrated by the swimmers who triggered the Omega switch, the better news was the determination of the coaches of those swimmers to bring order to the chaos that reigns in the sport.

As we know, 15 of the Continent's 17 best swimming nations want limits and controls to be placed on performance-enhancing suit technology in time for the World Championships in Rome next July. That was Saturday night. The list grows by the hour. Australia vote this week and all US and European eyes on on the world No2 swim nation, a country that has played a key role in the history of the sport, and played a significant part in calling cheats to account, demanding rules that prevent unfair advantage, that prevents the blooming of uneven playing fields built on artificial platforms. 

As Rijeka, a Croatian city that can proud of organising an excellent championships beyond the bloated presence of hi-tech bodysuit, waved goodbye to Europe below a headline record count that sent swimming's annual tally to an obese 105 world and 136 European records, the overwhelming view was that a vast mistake had been made and the moment that the monster (in the form of a range of suits that referees simply could not and could not be expected to identify) could be caged could not come soon enough.

"Seeing so many world records fall in one year demeans their value. It's like cheating to some extent," Dennis Pursley, former US head coach and now Britain head coach, said. Here's a man who mentored Mary T Meagher. You'll all recall Brown Deer and the lore that followed. Bad for the sport that it took so long to get past her? Bad for the sport the moments that Jenny Thompson and Susie O'Neill did inch past the legend? Of course not. Many a butterfly final after Mary T's Brown Deer bombshell was a knife-edge moment. Would they, wouldn't they? And when they did - what a moment, for Mary T and Jenny and Susie and all those who worked towards all those fabulous times.

Coaches want to remove fabrics and suit constructions that, in the face of Fina rule SW10.7 "aid speed, buoyancy and endurance". That would include the compression and "core stabilisation" factors that are delaying and dulling the effects of fatigue at the end of races. Coaches and federations are also seeking a ban on the potential for "biofeedback", the ability of fabric to interact directly with the central nervous system and the signals sent from brain to organs. Patents exist for garments that would do just that.

Pursely said that where suits enhance performance, he, along with many others, was "very concerned that we could soon see individual suits being tailored for specific individuals. That would take the whole sport in a very different direction." If suit design before this year had "helped to maximise performance", the suits of 2008 had "enhanced performance". Pursley added: "A line has been crossed."

Amaury Leveaux's world record of 44.94sec (best time a year ago beyond 47sec) and 22.18 (best time a year ago 24.30) represented that line. Good for the man from Mulhouse for dedicating himself, for losing more than 10kg in a year, for doing what it took to maximise his potential. How good would it be to see him race without the prop, without the sling? And if he is slower? So what. It will be real - and swimming will have kept it's soul. 

All eyes are on Australia this week.