The FINA Coaches association is recommending in January that all of Speedo's competitors who set world records in 2008 and 2009 have their WRs considered as "second tier WRs" thereby elevating textile WRs as more special. [Read as diminishing all the brands that knocked Speedo off the "brand pedestal" making the suit nothing short of being a has been brand!]
Of course Mark Schubert, the Honorary Secretary, along with Coach John Leonard are on the FINA Coaches Commission and I am sure they have no problems whatsoever with degrading European accomplishments over those of our Speedo-wearing, American swimmers.
To be fair there would be some Speedo casualties though when FINA rubber stamps this proposal such as Rebbecca Adlington 400-free and Michael Phelps 100-butterfly, but France, China, Russia, Hungry, Brazil, Sweeden, Germany, Japanese and even non-Speedo-wearing American swimmers will all get hosed.
Of course they will just have to accept it since the "FINAutotacy" has their best interests in mind and they are the only governing body in town.
Isn't it amazing that a WR that is set legally and with FINA's blessing can now be repealed based on a whim or consideration of a small cabal and none of the swimmers who set these records have a say?
My source is the Times Online written by a fellow I refuse to link to.
This is probably the first time in history that the average swimmer at large wishes FINA would just go away or be replaced!
13 comments:
If we rolled back records every time a rule was changed... then we have a lot of rolling back to do. This shows that the pen is certainly mightier than the athlete. These guys will litigate anything as long as they can get the last word and feel they have power over the athletes. It's simply disgusting.
Hey FINA is a wishy washy org, but the reality is that the tech suits are an advantage for all who can afford them or are deemed worthy of a promotional gift. I argue that the original decision to allow the suits was the error, this decision is the correction. They might have waited until it was proven by these same world record holders when they come no where close to their world records in 2010 and beyond, but then it might be to late to make the corrections. I say let the whine begin.
The closest equivalent to this is the way the UCI dealt with the hour record in cycling. I think it was Graeme Obree's homemade bike with the washing machine parts that finally led to a crackdown. Eddy Merk's 12.5 lb. hour record bike is illegal under today's rules.
Glenn, Are you talking about Mark Schubert and John Leonard :-)?
Anyone involved with FINA... can't just single anyone in particular. No matter which side of the issue you're on, everyone agrees that the sport is in an upheaval over this. So how do all these guys keep their jobs?
Also, as I stated above, rules change all the time. You don't get to hang on to the old records just because some new advantage came out. This trickle effect could go back to the beginning of the sport. This is bad precedent, and even poorer management.
However, since there's no actual logic that takes place at FINA, this is simply par for the course.
This is a terrible idea. Let the records stay. They will be broken and if you can't see that then you don't have the vision our sport needs.
As for tech-suits being unaffordable: $260 jammers anyone?
I agree...let the records stand as the WORLD RECORD for each event.
The athletes swam in approved suits, swam in approved pools, swam in approved meets and passed the drug test. Therefore, the records are the real records and should stay on the books. No marks, no lines. Leave em for swimmers to continue to chase.
As for speedo's $260 jammer...kinda throws egg in the face of officials who claimed to want to make suits affordable again.
Then again, speedo got what it wanted...rid of suits that were more durable, more dependable than anything they produced.
Long live Blueseventy!
Tony--
I have a little different take on this move. I will be posting today. Y'all might think I am full of it, but I had to wonder why Craig Lord doesn't want this to happen. You might like what I have come up with.
Hear me out at swimviking.blogspot.com.
a fellow you refuse to link to? Come on now...that's just silly.
Chris...how can you say the 200 IM will be broken by a woman in a textile suit, with a straight face? I must have missed the part about the vision I lack to think that assisted swims are worth something more than man vs water?
Two words, one name: Dagny Knutson!
been a long time reader of your blog Tony but come on...no doubt Knutson is the next great american female IM hope but she is a wall-charging SCY phenom...2:12 to 2:06 is an eternity when your 2:12 comes rested and suited...2:06 is here to stay.
But even if you add a conservative 15 second conversion from yards to meters to Dagny's 1:53, don't you think that 2:06 is still within striking distance sometime in 2010 or 2011?
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