'NIKE' pulls out of swimwear battle! - This is why the Speedo/USA Swimming monopoly accusations may be credible!

CNBC: ...In a somewhat surprising move, Nike has pulled out of the Olympic swimwear market

Sources told CNBC that, last week, officials with the world's largest shoe and apparel maker told college swim coaches who they have contracts with, that the company would no longer be developing the latest and greatest for championship swimmers. Those suits, for obvious reasons, are used by swimmers at the majority of top programs whose coaches have a Nike contract. ..." [Link]

Nike is done with us and we came so close to having their marketing muscle popularize our sport! As a painful result, Nike swimmers are now unemployed and that includes Olympic hero, Jason Lezak, whose friends are going to hold a fund raiser for him so that he can continue to swim for us and represent the United States in the 2009 FINA World Championships of Swimming in Rome: [Link]

I am setting up a donation button for him soon thanks to Paul Carter and Club Assistant.

Rant: I predicted that the covert product placement by Speedo within the USA Swimming ranks could have some swimsuit manufacturers just quitting and leaving the speedsuit market altogether; I didn't think it would be Nike.

For instance: USA Swimming Olympic Team Coach, Mark Shubert, who is also an employee of Speedo, is categorically quoted in a TYR lawsuit brief on page 8 - Line 6, stating that the Speedo LZR would give a swimmer a "2% advantage" over any other suit. He provided no documentation to verify his claim and the next paragraph contains another gem: "I would strongly advise them to wear the [LZR] at trials or they may end up at home watching it on NBC. ..."

Here is the legal brief that TYR filed with all the quotes therein: [Link]

For USA Swimming to allow this statement to be made despite documented suit malfunctions, and no documentation to verify the "2% faster claim," they essentially told the global market that USA Swimming endorses only the Speedo LZR. (Also note that Speedo is the only suit manufacturer allowed to advertise with USA Swimming properties which include both their magazine and website.)

In my opinion the consequences are as follows: a bunch of NIKE swimmers just lost their jobs as a result of this covert product placement for the LZR and the ramifications may ripple.

So, has Speedo and USA Swimming poisoned the marketing waters for every other speedsuit manufacturer by getting a National Governing Body with the weight of the USA behind it to endorse the LZR? A jury will decide and Speedo better hope I don't get picked as a member of that jury.

'Speedo' admits paying USA Olympic Swimming Coach Mark Shubert to endorse Speedo!

TYR is suing Speedo and USA Swimming for anti-trade practices which in my opinion are so obvious and so overt it boggles my mind that the only press publications being objective about this lawsuit are coming from outside the swimming spectrum. TYR is being portrayed as the villain and Speedo the poor, innocent, innovator. See SwimNews if you don't believe me.

With that said the L.A. Times has been quite fair with this lawsuit: here are some restated quotes about TYR's management practices from Coach Mark Shubert from an L.A. Times article:

"... USA Swimming's head coach, Mark Schubert, took jabs at TYR Sport, which is suing him, USA Swimming, Warnaco Swimwear Inc. -- the parent company of Speedo -- and swimmer Erik Vendt in connection with the LZR Racer swimsuit. The antitrust lawsuit alleges that there was a conspiracy to steer swimmers to Speedo.

Schubert, who has steadfastly refused to comment on the lawsuit, Saturday took pains to compliment Nike, which has been allowing its sponsored athletes to experiment with high-tech suits from other manufacturers. He said Nike shows it wants its athletes to succeed. ..." [Link]

Now, consider this: Mark Shubert set up a quasi-demonstration of the LZR in Manchester, England at the FINA SCM Championships. The meeting was mandatory and according to the TYR lawsuit brief, some athletes felt "hard sold." If Shubert is all for swimsuit choice, then why didn't he demo all the swimsuits so they could "...experiment with high-tech suits from other manufacturers" and why did he just demo the Speedo?

Now compare his credibility as a unbiased coach and a moral authority in regards to swimsuit choice in a court filling by a Speedo exec in regards to the Speedo lawsuit. From the L.A. Times:

".... But an earlier filing, a declaration attached from Stu Isaac, a Speedo senior vice president, stated that Schubert is a paid spokesman for the company, which backs up TYR's assertion.

Now I read the Ted Stevens Act twice through today. The Stevens Act summarily created the concept of National Governing Body status. In my opinion, USA Swimming is not a business like the NFL or the NBA. Those organizations are businesses and can use their for-profit status to endorse, or forward the aims and interests of those that pay them "mad bank" to do so.

It's my interpretation that National Governing Bodies such as USA Swimming can't use their non-profit status as a for-profit engine so as to set up swimsuit monopolies for those such as Speedo or anybody else. USAS is a non-profit governing body set up by the United States Senate. What USAS overtly or covertly endorses essentially is endorsed by the auspices of the US government. It can't be done in my opinion.

Now for my tastes, the proper way for an endorsement deal to take place would be for USAS to state out loud that Speedo pays their bills and then state they are thankful for the cash but they won't say which suit is the best then I could live with that.

So, the TYR case has been moved to September 15th. How coincidental that is is after the games.

Mark Shubert claims the 'Speedo LZR' would give a swimmer a 2% advantage over any other suit.

In the TYR lawsuit brief mentioned in the previous post, Mark Shubert is categorically quoted on page 8 - Line 6, stating that the Speedo LZR would give a swimmer a "2% advantage" over any other suit.

What does a "2% advantage" mean and how was that number quantified?

Will you finish all your races in a time that is 2% faster than ever before?

Does it mean that a Speedo Lzr is simply 2% more "slippery" or more hydrodynamic than any other suit on the market?

The math doesn't support it and there is no way that Mark Shubert was able to test a Tracer Light, Tracer Rise, blueseventy pointzero3, or an Arena Powerskin R-Evolution in a plume or wind tunnel.

Pieter van den Hoogenband's set a world record in the 100 LCM free at the Sydney games in a time of 47.84. If you then compare it to Alain Bernard's world record set at the European LCM Championships last month in a time of 47.50, that is not even a single percentage point faster but rather a 0.07% reduction. It's impressive but it is not 2%.

In the 50 free the time differential between Popov-2000 and Bernard-2008, we see a .98% reduction. Again, this is not a 2% differential. Michael Phelps dropped his 200 back time by the same percentage in just 4 years without a Speedo Lzr.

Shubert's 2% claim is an extraordinary one and it demands extraordinary proof.

LA TIMES: 'TYR' sues 'Speedo' and 'USA Swimming', Coach Mark Schubert and Erik Vendt

UPDATE: Here is the legal brief that TYR filed: [Link]

Thank you so much to the reader who sent it!

I am going to try and get the brief and post it. I am no lawyer but I think TYR has a case. A huge one and USA Swimming will be forced to capitulate or face the consequences of their "for profit" ventures presented to the public at large. Most notably that USA Swimming is not allowed to profit from the subject of their non-profit status and yet they are doing just that.

As for Mark Shubert who is coach of the USA Team - This snippet to me illustrates an ethically severe conflict of interest on Shubert's part if this allegation is true. Especially note the part in bold. Here is a snippet: "... before the LZR debuted, the court papers said. His enthusiasm extended to what was called a mandatory team meeting at the Short Course World Championships in Manchester, England in April, telling swimmers that they would "have a two percent advantage if they wore the Speedo LZR technology," according to the lawsuit.

"Schubert also arranged to have a fitting session during the mandatory team meeting where athletes were instructed on how to fit the Speedo LZR suit and position the LZR suit to the body," the complaint said. "TYR-sponsored athletes in attendance expressed discomfort at Schubert's unsolicited comments."

Speedo has long been linked to USA Swimming, in a commercial sense, and in court papers TYR maintains that Schubert "is a paid spokesman for Speedo. ..."

( Read as a PAID spokesperson for Speedo being PAID to tell the American team in Manchester, England during a mandatory meeting that the product he is being PAID to represent is 2% better than any other suit and that they should wear it.)

As for USA Swimming: Here are three reasons why they may be acting in economic interests rather than in the interests of producing good swimmers:

1) Wasserman Media Group "Marketing deal"
2) Speedo endorsement deal - Speedo Tip of the Week
3) Spanking Floswimming for actually promoting swimming.

As for Erik Vendt: If you promise to wear a suit in exchange for a salary; you wear it. Embarrassing your sponsor not only tarnishes their name, but makes you a potentially fatal brand investment down the line. Also, there is that breech of contract thingy!

Here is a link to Lisa Dillman's article at the L.A. Times: [Link]

Photo above came from non-governmental body, non-profit, USA Swimming.org

American Indians and/or Pacific Islanders actually invented the modern day freestyle!

They also gave us surfing but in the 19th century English swimmers did this forward crawl that looked like sideways breaststroke/dog paddle while they kept their head above water. That changed in 1844 when two American Indians named Flying Gull and Tobacco conducted a swimming demonstration in London by racing each other and other British swimmers over a distance of 43 yards.

Flying Gull* took the race in 30 seconds and was awarded a medal for his efforts. Today that is like swimming a 50 SCY free in about 35 seconds while wearing clothes made out of dear skin leather. Nonetheless, post demonstration the article states that the swimming community was "rocked".

Per this article they describe their technique as a straight-arm freestyle with a windmill stroke. They allude to Janet Evans technique and rightfully so. If you look at Kate Ziegler or Laure Manadou's stroke you will see a lot of Janet Evans therein.

This article illustrates two concepts to me: International cooperation should move ideas forward rather than monopolizing them and swim technique is largely and individual model rather than "one technique fits all." Snippet from the article:

"I did have a lot of undulation in my stroke," said Evans, "and I definitely brought my head up just a little. I think that ties into the undulation. I worked a lot with a stroke coach named Nancy Schlueter. She and her late husband, Walt, did a lot of work with Mark Schubert. They were fantastic stroke coaches! Nancy always said that my freestyle was almost a modified butterfly."

Evans was a great puller in workout. Interestingly, her kick may have been as weak as her pull was strong.

"I was always in the back of the lane in kick sets," Evans chuckled. "Have you ever seen my feet? They're a size 6-tiny! I think I used my kick simply to keep the tempo of my stroke going." With this highly unusual combination of elements, it's easy to see why very few swimmers imitated her. [Link]

* I could not find an illustration of Flying Gull or Tobacco