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.: FINA Approves New Suits - Impact Carries Through NCAA's

Fool, Apr. , April 1st, 2008

In a move that will seemingly add fuel to a burning fire, FINA, the the international governing body for aquatic sports, today gave its approval to a host of swimsuit innovations.  The decisions, largely a result of the controversy arising from the new Speedo LZR are the widest ranging changes to the FINA general rules governing swimming costumes.

The decision is expected to have a ripple-down effect that will affect NCAA rules.

 In a release, FINA has modified several of its requirements for swimwear approval:
  • General Rule 5.1 - Decency - Gone is the regulation that suits "shall be in good moral taste". Instead, suits are now permitted to "display of oddly-positioned bulges underneath the suit's surface." (Figure 1)
  • General Rule 5.2 - Transparency - Suits may now have transparent areas to allow for the display of corporate logos (Figure 2) .
  • General Rule 5.6 - Availability - Suits must now be widely available to sponosored athletes.
  • General Rule 5.5 - Approval - A new timeline for suit approval has been issued. Applications for companies beginning with the letter 'S' will be evaluated on a rolling basis.  Other applications will be evaluated for approval beginning on February 30, 2009.



Figure 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2

Additionally, FINA has modified general rule 6.1 regarding advertising.  It has been combined with general rule 5.3 prohibiting "arm bands or leg bands".  The new regulation, General Rule 5.$ will now permit the use of "arm bands, leg bands, rock bands, hand paddles, nose clips, fins, those little booties you wear when fins are too tight, fingernail extensions, jet packs, and other propulsive devices provided they clearly display the the letters "odeeps" in any configuration along with a boomerang logo.

FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculsecu, explained, "We really tried to streamline the approval process for new swimmwear."  The new criteria, he explained will help the progression of World Records witnessed in the past month.  "Our goal, is a new World Record every week."

While the rule has no direct bearing on NCAA competition, it essentially gives teams free reign to use the new equipment.  That's a development that has some coaches excited.  .

Frank Busch, head coach of this year's Men's and Women's Division I team champion Arizona Wildcats told SwimNews.com , "I would be naive to think that this suit did not alter performances in a good way. I don't think we have seen so many records in so short of a time, I take my hat off to the athletes and what they have done."

Others, of course, were not so thrilled.  Said one coach, who asked to be anonymous, "We're screwed - our athletic department just signed a huge contract with Adidas so now we can't even use the suit.  We just get these soggy old suits that have "I. Thorpe" written on the inside."

Said another, "I'm not really happy about this.  Nike actually has a suit design called 'lingere'.  What message does this send to young women in our sport?  What's next - FINA approvaing a women's one-piece suit covering only the bottom?  All this for a football team that won three games last year" [Marculsecu said such a suit would be approved provided it met General rule 5.$.]

It wasn't just the big boys who were affected.  Said one Division III coach who had emerged from her annual budget meeting, "I asked my AD for $12,000 to buy 24 new suits so we could be competitive at the national meet."  Instead the coach was told, "Well, I guess we'll start a women's ice hockey instead.  We can be competitive in that right away."

In an un-related development, FINA also announced the reciept of a sport $1,000,000 grant from a leading swimwear manufacuter.