Science is not about fact or faith - it is about preponderance of evidence. When experiments cannot be reproduced, science will change it's model.
Again, science is not about faith nor it is it about suspicion or conjecture. It's about what you see right in front of you and even then, someone has to reproduce it. When "facts" change, science changes.
Above is a letter from Jan Anders Mason, Professor Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne, Switzerland, written to the Executive Director C. Marculescu of FINA.
Click image to enlarge!
The highlighted paragraph along with the paragraph above clearly state that the swimsuits with non-permeable fabric, such as the 'blueseventy' and perhaps the TYR Titan, complied with the buoyancy factor. THEY COMPLIED!
In plain words: THEY PASSED. The suits met the scientific standards agreed upon in Dubai and duly tested by the Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne yet the suits were denied because of the mere speculation or conjecture on the part of Professor, Jan Anders Mason.
Prejudice is defined as "...A judgment or opinion formed before the facts are known. In most cases, these opinions are founded on suspicion... A preconceived preference or idea. The act of forming a judgment beforehand without knowledge of the facts."
Hence, the 'bueseventy,' in my opinion, was denied over the suspicion of buoyancy rather than demonstrable evidence of it.
Here blueseventy's official statement:
"...New Zealand — May 19, 2009 — Today FINA released its list of approved suits for the World Championships in July. FINA rejected 10 high-tech racing suits and approved 199 others with 136 swimsuits to be modified in accordance with the “Dubai Charter”.
blueseventy submitted 11 models of suits for FINA approval, including tights and jammers. At this time, blueseventy suits are not listed on FINA’s site as approved models, including the models that had previously been submitted (in late 2007) and had received approval.
blueseventy is stunned by this omission. “As a company, and personally, we were very comfortable with the criteria for testing that FINA had outlined, our suits passed well under the threshold for buoyancy and thickness proposed by them,” stated blueseventy’s Global Marketing Manager, Dean Jackson. “We have had confirmation that our suits passed the independent laboratory testing for both of these tests.”
Officially blueseventy is classified as one of the suits that ”may cause significant air trapping when worn by the swimmers.” However, there are several other similar brands with suits that use exactly the same fabric, with a similar construction, that have passed without a problem. This confusing situation has led the company to seek clarification directly from FINA and blueseventy is awaiting their response.
blueseventy has 30 days to make modifications to the suit so that it no longer traps air, but the system around this is unclear since trapping air is not a measurable value and the subjective nature of this “testing” is not black or while. Initially the Dubai Charter and resubmission of these suits was in order to gain acceptance for the Rome World championships and it is blueseventy’s understanding that previously approved suits remain legal for all competitions.
“We are dedicated to working on the best solution to the short-term situation and will work closely with FINA on this process,” said Roque Santos, blueseventy Vice President of Swimming. “Most importantly, we care about swimmers, we care about our company and we care about fair play for all brands in this process.”..."
7 comments:
This whole situation stinks. Speedo funnels money to US Swimming and FINA. they allow the LAZR. Once Pandora's Box has been opened, other suit companies come up with faster suits, namely the Tyr Titan, the Jaked, the Arena X-Glide, and the Blueseventy. FINA then decides to retrench and disallow those faster suits, but lo and behold, the LAZR is still allowed. I would have been fine with it -- in fact I would have preferred it -- if FINA had said only briefs or jammers are going to be allowed from now on. But this decision really smacks of corruption.
PS -- I've worn the blueseventy several times now, and I've always been struck by the opposite -- that it somehow sticks to my skin incredibly closely.
wow. you have some great resources. this letter is a big deal. i thought permeability wasn't supposed to be an issue until phase 2 next year?
It traps as much water as it traps air. Why don't they worry about THAT? I carry water in my back everytime I swim in it... we could claim the two balance out.
I'm not stranger to political BS... and this is stinking of that.
John and Viking: I think the coaches who were at the table should be forced to state which suits companies were paying them a fee of some sort.
I would be curious to see if Alan Thompson has nothing to do with Speedo or, like Mark Schubert, was a paid endorser.
I need to find out if the TYR Titan was rejected for the same reasons, if so, I think TYR should make a stink like b70 has too.
Glenn, The most obvious detail about water and air and I missed it. Duh!
I do think the fix is in.
The anti speedsuit voices were not as shrill; actually they were stone cold silent, when Speedo was the de facto winning speedsuit.
Tony -- Great idea, all of the money which has passed from the suit companies to the coaches and governing bodies should be made public, sunlight being the best disinfectant, etc.
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