FINA press release: “Amendments to the FINA Swimwear Approval Procedures: the Bureau approved the “Dubai Charter†(see attached document) to be immediately implemented.”
Browsing: speedo lzr racer
The Japanese Swimming Federation gave the three Japanese sportswear companies until May 30 to come up with an outfit comparable to the LZR Racer, which they then have unveiled by now. Asics and Descente have used a new “world’s fastest swimwear material” called Biorubber Swim-SCS Fabric and polyurethane, while Mizuno say they have a new material tightening the swimmer’s body.
Source: AFP
While Arena is trying to keep its sponsored swimmers at bay by promising a new suit at the end of the month, Nike sort of just gives up, telling its swimmers that they are allowed to choose their own suits as long as the possible logos of other brands are blacked out.
Madsen, who had a long history of coaching in Germany before accepting the DSV offer, is not yet convinced the Speedo suit makes a technical difference but there is no questioning the psychological impact.
“There have been 39 world records, long and short course, this year and 90 percent of them were in Speedo,” Madsen told Reuters during a poolside interview in Berlin, shortly before Australian swimmers set two more women’s records.
“That, or course, does something to the athletes. It’s almost impossible to put yourself in a state of mind where you say it doesn’t matter. Of course it matters.
Source: guardian.co.uk
The Italian swimming federation’s Institute of Medicine and Science is set to conduct a study on the relationship between the suits and the recent onslaught of world record. On the other hand, Dr. Brent Rushall states that this is just an example of excellence in marketing. “Speedo has picked a year in which traditionally, there is a high probability that the best swimmers will be swimming better than they ever have before”, “They capture those who are going to swim very, very fast” and “they don’t tell you how many did swim and didn’t break the records”.
Source: ESPN Sports
Gary Hall Jr is pretty adamant about it: “There’s obviously something there besides technology”, “I don’t want it to take the attention away from the performances but there’s doping going on in sports” and “It’s a convenient distraction for the people who dope and those who aren’t cracking down on it”. Source: Reuters
Swimmers not wearing the new space-age swimsuits should either stop crying about it or move heaven and earth to get their hands on them, says Australian head coach Don Talbot according to the Herald Sun. Meanwhile, Germans smell Olympic disaster because of wearing the wrong suits.
Carlile urges us all, swimming federations and individuals, to make our voices heard, if we believe, as he, that the intrusion of the Speedo LZR and similar Hi Tech swimwears is harming our sport. Below is enclosed the open letter from Forbes Carlile, as shown here on SwimNews.
Try and tell me that if Matt Biondi or Tom Jager wore these suits they wouldn’t have been much faster. Jager’s 21.81 50 free from 1990 with a two percent decrease is a 21.37. All of a sudden Eamon’s 21.28 isn’t that ridiculous. Biondi’s 21.85 (1990) and 48.42 (1988) turn into 21.41 and a “world record†47.45 respectively.
How about the women? Janet Evans’ 4:03.85 400 free from 1988 turns into a 3:58.97. Mary T’s 2:05.96 200 fly from 1981 turns into a 2:03.44. I could go all day with this, but you get the point.
The truly scary part is that this “two percent†theory applies to the new suits vs. the most recent suits before hand. Compare it to what the older timers above were wearing and you go way past the realm of ridiculous.
Source: SwimNetwork.com
South Africa’s Gerhard Zandberg has stated that he will rather be fined $4,750 for wearing a Speedo at the Olympics, than sticking with a sponsored Arena that doesn’t deliver. He and Italy’s Filippo Magnini still have hopes for the new Arena R-Evolution, but when FINA wouldn’t allow them to wear it at the World Championships 100 meter freestyle final, Magnini switched to a Speedo.