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.”..."
