On the advice of the panel of scientific experts appointed by FINA to judge whether race apparel complies with a 2010 ruling banning "any swim suit that may aid speed, buoyancy or endurance", the international governing body has rejected about as many suits as it has approved. 

SwimNews can reveal today that "well over 200 suits" have been sent back to makers with a "No Way" note. The approved list is 247 deep, though many pre-2008 suits cut to specification are also permitted without being listed by FINA (ie. if you show up in Mark Spitz's nylons, no-one will object, it appears). In fact, clarification on precise figures reveals this display of seriousness at FINA and the Approvals Commission:

Suits submitted - 574; Swimsuits approved - 190: in the latest round, for a total of 247 on the approved list.

Of the 37 suit makers that submitted apparel for approval, 13 have had no suits approved. And of the 24 makers that have had suits approved many have also had models rejected, Cornel Marculescu, Executive Director of FINA, confirmed.

The ruling FINA Bureau will be presented with the specific figures when it meets in Bangkok next week.

The news is confirmation that the panel of scientific experts, the four men who make up the FINA Swimwear Approvals Commission, does not represent mere window dressing and is working hard to make fairness and standardised race conditions paramount in the race pool in the interests of all athletes.

A senior source told SwimNews: "Despite the claims of suit makers for their 2010 suits and the high price tag on some of the approved suits, the fact is that suits designed to boost performance will not be tolerated. They are being caught and pulled out. That process is likely to get tighter as we learn more and new products try to make their way to market."

The Swimwear Approvals Commission is:

• Chairman: Jan-Anders Manson, of the Swiss Institute of Technology in Lausanne
• David Pendergast, University at Buffalo, the State University of New York
• Brian Blanksby, the University of Western Australia 
• Shigahiro Takahashi, the Chukyo University, Japan

A fifth member of the commission, appointed to represent athletes, was asked to step down on concerns that links with a suit maker would represent a potential conflict of interest, a case that applies not just for that individual but to many who, inevitably, find themselves in similar situations in swimming.

Of the 247 suits approved, Speedo leads the way on numbers, with 44 models on the list, followed by Japanese makers Descente, with 41, Asics, with 26 - the same number as TYR of the US - and Mizuno, on 16.

FINA still has some issues pending on suits: a fair few of those that come with a big stamp marked "FINA approved" are accompanied by high price tags and sales literature that boasts of performance-enhancement of the kind that states: "Buy me or race at a disadvantage". That breaks the letter and spirit of Rule SW10.7 as agreed overwhelmingly by FINA Congress, the highest authority of the international federation, in Rome last July. 

In Australia, at recent junior competitions, parents have complained bitterly about the fact that they cannot buy a pair of briefs in 2010 textile for their offspring, who have been forced to either wear pre-2008 models or buy jammers that carry a price tag of Aus$500. For a textile suit that "may not aid speed, buoyancy or endurance", that would seem to be a little steep, the parents and some coaches Down Under are suggesting.

Swim shop owners have confirmed in documents seen by SwimNews that they cannot get hold of some 2010 approved suits cut in briefs or cut off at the hip for women. Said one source Down Under: "If material to the thigh is not an issue and does not help, then why not provide choice for the consumer and make sure that swimmers can buy less expensive briefer suits in the same textile that those wearing knee suits have access to because they can afford the higher price tag. If suits to the knees do provide an advantage, they would, of course, be breaking FINA rules."

While one FINA source told SwimNews that it was "impossible" to control what suit makers claimed, another noted that the world is full of governmental agencies such as food standards agencies that tell producers what they can and cannot claim on the tin. "It is clear from some of the words being used to sell suits that someone is not telling the truth and nothing but the truth: either the suits enhance performance in a way that breaks FINA rules or they don't and the claims are bogus." 

In which case, Caveat Emptor.