Francesco Fabbrica, developer of the performance-enhancing Jaked swim suits, refuses to accept FINA's decision to reject the '01' model worn on the way to a tidal wave of national records, a fair few continental standards and a handful of world records set by swimmers from a wide variety of programmes from far-flung corners of the globe.

Fabbrica is reported in the Italian and French press as stating: "We were sure up to the last second that our suit would be approved. Because it meets the rules. We have always operated within legality. The proof is that the suit has been approved for a year."

Approved - but only worn widely in the past six months, while it is important to note, say FINA sources, that the rules of a year ago are not the rules of today, and the rules of today are transitional on the way to a position from January 1, 2010, when the Jaked01 suit would not have a hope of remaining in the race pool. 

FINA's advice from the independent suit testing team was that the Jaked01 passed muster on a few levels but when it came to potential for trapping air, the suit was dubious.  Given that that is precisely what FINA wishes to cut out, why would it give the Jaked01 the benefit of serious doubt, particulary with a nod to a wave of times from around the world that are, without question, off-the-chart, and the fact that many in the sport want to see as fair a world championships as possible in Rome this July. The issue is not just one of world records, it is one that boils down to this: what have all the massive improvements from many different programmes around the world, doing very different kinds of work and supported by widely differing levels of sports science back-up and much else, have in common? Answer: a suit.

The frustration of Jaked rests in the continued presence of the Speedo LZR in the water. "What's happened is very strange," says Fabbrica. "As a man, I'm dismayed. As the boss of a company, I'm shaking with anger. We have invested to create and develop our suit."

Critics of Signor Fabbrica's stance note that FINA, for many months, has made clear that it will not tolerate performance-enhancement and intends to cut such things out of the sport. It gave suit makers time to adjust to a new world coming. What some suit makers have done is deliberately headed in the opposite direction and have fought tooth and claw to have performance-enhancement remain a part of the game, at the cost of swimmers and the sport, say senior FINA sources who described themselves as "very disappointed with the attitude of some suit makers".

Only two years ago, one source pointed out, the successful swimmer had a strong chance of being king: gold-medal winners were sought out by suit makers to be models for their brands. Now, the brand is king, the swimmer subservient and plaudits for performance very much shared twixt suit and swimmer, with the coach sidelined ever more by equipment that negates the need to carry out the same kind of core work that was required for success at the highest level of the sport.

Jaked are now considering legal action as "victims of an arbitrary decision", said Fabbrica. Jaked would have a hard time proving its case, on the basis of the documentation that SwimNews has seen over the past few months. The specific parameters of testing may well be described as a work in progress but as for the intention of FINA on the issue of performance enhancement, there can be no doubt whatsoever that suit makers knew what was coming and had been asked to cooperate. The position was clear: we will give you time to adjust your products, you work on cutting out the stuff that you know makes swimmers significantly faster than they would otherwise be. The paperwork and communication that SwimNews has seen bleeds that message.

"With our suits, which have become a phenomenon, we have exhausted efforts to find balance. We have upset the system. But we will not stop there. The battle has only just started. We will try again to optimise our suit. We have called FINA but had no reply." 

A senior source told SwimNews: "Of course they have had no reply. What do they mean by 'optimising" a suit? What is this talk of battle. The international federation saw from a distance what happened in Europe over the winter and what has happened since. Those suits enhance performance. Jaked has two other suits on the list. Does that mean that those suits are not optimum suits to wear? One of the models accepted is the one that was most prevalent in Beijing last year. A company like Jaked would surely benefit more if it invested its time, energy and money is getting ready for 2010 and a time when what we have in the water now will be gone."