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Rome 2009: The Circus Is On - All Suits Allowed
Jun 22, 2009 - Craig Lord
News and comment on the hot topic of the day in the world of swimming:
Get those giant thumbs-up/thumbs-down placards out and make way for the bun fight. Rome will be a circus after all: all fast suits will be allowed, according to information from the FINA suits commission today, for the world championships and the rest of the 2009 long-course season because the reason FINA gave for rejecting apparel on May 19 was, at worst, bogus: air-trapping cannot be proved or if it can, so too can it be proved that some air passes through all fabric.
(NB: even a glass, according to Prof Manson at the Lausanne meeting with the media last month, in a reference that reminded me of the maths professor who explained to me that I could never really touch the end wall because distance can always be halved and halved again, "0" never truly achieved - even though the impact of finger in pad stops the clock and proves the mathematical theory to be nonsense on a practical level).
FINA's latest move, somewhat inevitable if you bow at the foot of "science" but don't understand it and then get the "science" wrong, is one that will achieve two things: FINA will no longer be sued in the short-term; every event at the 13th world championships in Rome will be a sham, each line-up will include swimmers who enjoy greater or lesser benefits from a variety of suits that offer different advantages to different swimmers on different strokes; the world record books will take a another pounding; the world ranking lists will continue to be warped and mangled.
Suit makers have been banging on FINA's door endlessly in the past month and brandishing "science" that proves their suit is just fine according to the rules. Not according to Rule SW10.7, of course, which says that no device shall aid "speed, buoyancy or endurance". Had FINA applied that rule, there would not be a single "fast suit" left in the water. As it is, FINA got its scientific methodology upside down: to draw a line past which the enemy shall not cross, you have to first understand the nature of the enemy and then arm yourself with the right weapons to fight the beast back should it come calling.
Given that the Jaked01, blueseventy (an official suit partner of FINA), arena X-Glide and Descente Aquaforce Zero have now been approved, the world records set in those suits must stand, including 20.94 and 46.94. Such standards will surely require a "standard time" to be set from January 1, 2010, if the world record books over the coming decade are to be meaningful.
Here are the world records that must, surely, now stand, and skew the books a little further than they already had been skewed:
Men:
Women:
Just as the initial suits crisis was born of FINA mishandling, so too is the latest "solution" the work of people who do not have a grasp on their sport and do not possess the skills to govern in the best interests of athletes.
FINA established its phased solution BEFORE testing any suits to understand what was happening. It put parameters in place for 2009 BEFORE knowing the levels at which it ought to set the likes of Newton levels and other measures. How to cut out a problem if you have not identified the problem and given it a number and a name?
By taking the route it has taken, FINA will get more of this instant reaction from the head coach of a leading nation: "I am really shocked and feel disgust about FINA's new trick. What about flotation force? Have holes been made in those suits? Do you have an idea how the suit testing was performed? Did any internationally recognised specialist in the field of biomechanics and hydrodynamics of swimming took part in testing?"
The answers: flotation force was not fully considered; no, none of the significant suits on the new list have been modified (blueseventy, Jaked01, arena X-Glide); yes, we know how suit testing was performed: in conditions that do not replicate a swimmer swimming at speed in water and in a fast suit; and 'no', no internationally recognised specialist in the field of biomechanics and hydrodynamics of swimming was invited to take part and contribute to the testing process."
Another leading head coach described the latest twist in the swift-suits fiasco as a "disaster of great magnitude", adding: "It's just impossible for me to understand the thinking in this reversal of position at the eleventh hour. FINA is in violation of their own rules that say that suits have to be readily available to all competitors. There is no way in the world that all competitors across the world in such a short time will be able to get these suits."
Germany, Britain and the USA are among nations yet to finalise or even select their teams for Rome. In Britain and Germany there will be waves of swimmers who simply have no access to the Jaked01, or the X-Glide, not to mention the Aquaforce Zero that is made in Japan for the Japanese market. One senior coach said: "I called them [two suit makers] and was told 'no, we only make it for our elite squad'. How is that available to all?"
The international federation should steel itself for much more of that this summer as the ghost of 1994 returns in different guise to haunt FINA and its failure to grasp the nettle by the hand and rip it out at the roots.
FINA, through Prof Manson, knows that many of the high-tech suits create an additional flotation force of 5-plus Newtons at certain stages in a race, and yet it has not taken that into consideration at all for 2009.
In effect what FINA has achieved for this summer through all this expensive testing and retesting and putting folk up at the Lausanne Palace Hotel and supposedly listening to the advice of coaching and swimming representatives and supposedly relying on science is: NIL. While it is right that all suits should be allowed if one level of significant performance-enhancing is allowed in suits (the LZR etc) - the level playing field in the race pool is that there is no level playing field: anything goes - this day is a sad one for swimming and those who govern FINA should be hanging their heads in shame this morning.
Their decision follows meetings between FINA and 13 suit makers last Thursday. Jaked brought along its own machine to show FINA how air passes through its suit. Big deal. The suit enhances performance, just as all current fast suits do. FINA was left powerless by its own lack of knowledge and reliance on a "scientific" process that did not take into account the very things that make the suits "fast". The steep learning curve travelled by Prof Jan-Anders Manson and team was not steep enough, it seems, not did that team in Lausanne seek the expert advise offered to it by people who have been dealing with angle buoyancy, drag form and fabric construction for some years now. That was a mistake. Was it deliberate direction from FINA, some ask this morning.
We may never truly know who is beholden to whom is what way. Some things are certain, though:
On the panel in Lausanne last Thursday were Bartolo Consolo, of Italy, the nation that has the Jaked01 as its official national-team suit, Sven Folvik (NOR), who must now try to explain to Alex Dale Oen why FINA has worked to ruin the 13th world championships, and Alan Thompson, of Australia-Speeo-nation and a man who must now try to explain to persuade his swimmers not to feel too nervous when a red-hot poker or some suit they have never seen or heard of before lines up in the lane next to them.
Thompson is understood to have told FINA that he is "very disappointed" in the decision made, one that will surely bring a few weeks of relative calm during the Mare Nostrum Tour and Paris Open to a crashing halt and make the suits more significant than the swimmers once more, and on the very biggest of occasions. The dress rehearsal of Rijeka will become the main show of Rome, and it will be, in the word chosen by many of the sports most successful swimmers, "sickening".
The introduction of suit checks in Rome is a huge waste of money and ought to be scrapped. There is nothing out there that could get past what has been approved at this stage. SwimNews understands that at least six models on the list can lay claim to direct influence on the central nervous system, lay claim to influencing lung function and heart rate. FINA was offered access to information that would have told it what to look for and why. It never took up that offer, just as it did not contact any of the experts who could have helped set sensible parameters for testing of suits.
For the organisers of the Rome event, the latest twist in a woeful tale of mismanagement, is calamitous: almost every final will unfold in an atmosphere of "them and us", with swimmers who gain emerging from races to say "it was me swimming, the suit is just a suit", while those who lose out will shrug and say "we all know what has happened here". Try as some will to deny that the suit is significant and try as some might to steer all thought to the significance of the swimmer, the championships will be tainted by the fact that every podium is likely to require a reference to one suit or another if truth is to be told.
The independent testing process has achieved nothing at all for Rome. FINA has boxed unclever to such an extent that it leaves no-one in any doubt as to how it all happened in the first place: stupidity and illogical greed that overlooked completely what was in the sport's best interests. It remains to be seen what will happen from January 1, 2010, but the likelihood is that the rules on suits will be all the stricter, though not as strict as many would like.
This from a senior FINA source: “We want a return to textile suits. But we took legal advice on this and consulted the International Tennis federation, which had a similar ‘technology’ problem. The advice was that there was a big risk." In 2010, the transitory journey of FINA will continue, with talk of a restriction of 40% use of non-textile/non-permeables, 20% above and 20% below waist. The reason: "...the stock that has to be cleared". To coin a phrase once used by a dying English king when told to perk up by an aid reminding him that it would soon be time to go on holiday to Bognor: bugger the stock that has to be cleared (the king said "bugger Bognor"). What about the swimmers and the sport. What about the world-record book, what about the world rankings, what about the mockery being made of swimming, what about the thread of history, what about the size of the mop that will be required to wipe it all up?
For the circus in Rome, there will be a hefty price to pay for suit makers who will need to reinvent their production lines or fade from the race. And the sooner FINA tells them all: it must be textile, and be must be cut like "this", the better. After the wounds of 2008 and the calamity of 2009, FINA must surely have learned that it can no longer afford to make 2010 a small step in the right direction. A blunt instrument is the thing with which to strike the right note.
In Rome, it will be fascinating to see how many sprinters turn up in that suit room in Rome and insist on having a new, unworn, Jaked01 provided in their size right there and then. And what of the Descente Aquaforce? Available to all? That is the demand of FINA. Can suit makers truly deliver that? Will all suits be available to all? Will the 50m free final present us with eight red-hot pokers and a couple of X-Glide, with not a LZR in sight? A fascinating circus is in prospect for Rome.
It will be interesting to see how many sprinters turn up in that suit room in Rome and insist on having a new, unworn, Jaked01 provided in their size right there and then. That is the demand of FINA. Can suit makers truly deliver that? Will all suits be available to all? Will the 50m free final present us with eight red-hot pokers and a couple of X-Glide, with not a LZR in sight? A fascinating circus is in prospect for Rome.
The meeting of the suits commission prompted the following statement from one member, Alan Thompson, head coach to an Australian team that may still wear Speedo and the LZR, though some will now wear blueseventy and all can, under FINA rules, rip up their contracts with Speedo and their national federation and chose any suit they like in a suits room at Rome.
From Alan Thompson:
"The FINA Executive held a meeting in Lausanne Switzerland on June 19, 2009 to consider the swimsuits approvals under the transitory regulations in accordance with the Dubai Charter.
"The Executive reviewed the recommendations of the Swimsuit Commission issued on June 18, 2009 in connection with the swimsuits subject to re-examination further to the first Commission Meeting on May 19, 2009.
"The Manufacturers have re-presented their swimsuits with modifications. In certain cases, the Manufacturers have submitted arguments regarding the fact the construction or material of their swimsuits would not create air trapping effects.
"The Executive approved the swimsuits as per attached list.
"Regarding the application of the criteria, the Executive found that the evidence of “in use” air trapping effect is complex and that it would require considerable time to create and implement comprehensive control mechanisms and test methods which would permit to establish the effect with absolute certainty in connection with particular swimsuits. In a transitory period where the industry had little time to anticipate the requirements, it is also important to take into account that the outcome of the approval process can have substantial impact on existing production and stocks. Therefore, in cases where there was a reasonable doubt as to the effect, such doubt had to be taken into account in the decision concerning the respective swimsuits.
"To secure a level-playing field, the swimsuits approved will be available to all swimmers at the World Championships in Rome.
"The approved swimsuits will be labelled and will be checked in Rome prior to competition.
"The rules regarding shape, use of only one swimsuit and no taping will be strictly applied and controlled in the first call room.
"FINA will continue the process of controlling the evolution of swimsuits and will issue new rules including new criteria for 2010."
With these words ""To secure a level-playing field, the swimsuits approved will be available to all swimmers at the World Championships in Rome", FINA has proved that it has not understood the issue even after all this time. If such people were in charge of a listed company, shareholders would by now have taken them out and hung them by the neck.
Here are the ADDITIONS to the May 19 list of approved suits.
TechfitPowerweb
S8140608BJ B85765
Powerskin X-Glide
Modified
full
Powerskin X-Glide
Powerskin X-Glide
Powerskin X-Glide
Powerskin X-Glide
Powerskin X-Glide
pants - long
full - knee
ARN - RMR81W
full
II mar09
ARN - RMR51W
ARN - RMR82W
ARN - RMR52W
ARN - RMR17M
ARN - RMR27M
full - knee
pants - short
full - knee
full - knee
full - knee
pants - long
full - knee
full - knee
pants - long
pants - long
pants - short
pants - short
pants - short
pants - short
Those are the additions to the list published on May 19.
