Cullen Jones has made a video statement regarding "The Valley Swim Club" denying kids of color to swim in their pool!

Olympic swimmer Cullen Jones and USA Swimming Executive Director, Chuck Wielgus comment - Scroll down to see it : [Link]

USA Swimming proposes new swimsuit regulations to FINA!

I am posting this late because I figured you all saw it and also I couldn't formulate anything lucid to say without spitting at my computer monitor first.

From Lane 9 News: "...GR 5.3 USA Fed. In swimming competitions the competitor must wear only one swimsuit in one or two pieces which shall not extend beyond the ankles, the wrists and the neck cover the neck, extend past the shoulder, nor past the knee. No additional items, like arm bands or leg bands shall be regarded as parts of a swimsuit. [Link]

My first upset: Imagine your a Swimsuit start-up company like Rocket Science Sports and you design a speed suit with innovative materials at great expense. Finally, when it is completed you submit your product to FINA for approval; who probably charges tens-of-thousands-of-dollars to do so, and FINA approves it.

Suddenly, USA Swimming, who is SOOOOO in bed with Speedo, decides to outlaw speed suit innovation with their silly rule as soon as they can thus wiping out a company or companies in the process. (Note that the Speedo LZR does not violate "GR 5.3" rule but Ian Thorpe's Addias suit and the RocketScience rocketSKIN certainly would.)

Long sleeve speedsuits have been around since Ian Thorpe in 2004. Where was USA Swimming then with their "GR 5.3" rule? Why now with a long sleeve rule? Why now?

Note how all of this occurs once several manufacturers bring products to market.

My second upset: Is that when USA Swimming' President said: "...I would also like to applaud FINA for sitting down with all involved in February. Hopefully, they will be having an open discussion with everyone regarding the steps of the approval process. ..." I read that comment as a big, fat, euphemism for "The fix is in" and I suspect USA Swimming will get what USA Swimming wants which of course includes includes a loooong approval process.

The 'Times Online' prints a horribly biased and hyperbolic article about speedsuits!

The Times Online presents a poorly researched speedsuit article that is full of speculation, exaggeration and hyperbole. On face value if you don't believe the Times Online could write a biased article, check out this paragraph:

"...That, says the whisper filtering out from the scientific community, is just the start. Fabric engineering already used in the military field will soon make headlines for all the right reasons: it can cure the sick, relieve pain for the terminally ill, provide speedy rehabilitation for crash victims, improve the lives of millions. But how long before the technology reaches the world of sport?..."

And this paragraph too:

"... As one leading light in the sport put it: “If we don’t stop the suits now, our sport will be destroyed by this and future developments. The last thing we need is to become the ‘testing ground’ for companies that want to do medical experiments on humans to promote their new products. The Roman Circus is here. ...” [Link]

If you step back and do a Google search with the text string: 'smart fabrics' or 'MIT Military Fabrics' to see if these grandiose predictions are valid, the materials suggested are a bit more involved then the Times Online presents.

For instance, the fabrics that can "heal you" according to MedicalNewsToday will work something like this:

"...Intelligent use of microelectronics allows scientists and engineers to extract useful data from very simple inputs. For example, the WEALTHY project integrated temperature sensors in the armpit and shoulder of their garment to register core and skin temperature. ..." [Link]

Note the word 'sensors' and realize that a electrical current would be running through the fabric and connected to a computer to collect the data. The material does not magically "heal you." However, the military wanted something that would.

As for the super human stuff the Times Online suggested: In 2002 The military gave the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 50-million dollars for a five-year contract to create a uniform that would make soldiers invisible, be able to jump over 20-foot walls, and deflect bullets too. If the Iraq war is any indication, I don't think they delivered! It was suppose to be a 5-year plan and here we are six-and-a-half years later and we have witnessed horribly wounded soldiers who barely had effective armor on their vehicles let alone a fabric that could heal them or make them bullet proof. From 2002 CNET article:

"...Researchers also hope to develop a kind of molecular chain mail that can deflect bullets.

In addition to protecting soldiers, these radically different materials will have uses in offensive tactics, at least psychologically.

"Imagine the psychological impact upon a foe when encountering squads of seemingly invincible warriors protected by armor and endowed with superhuman capabilities, such as the ability to leap over 20-foot walls," ISN director Ned Thomas said in a release. ..." [Link]

Speedsuits are not hurting swimming in any way. They are making it more fun especially for masters swimmers and overweight swimmers.

I smell manufactured consent on the part of USA Swimming's PR department in conjunction with the media to move public opinion towards their point of view. It's a sloppy article and presents no counter opinion.

Tara Kirk is back in the "lab" along with Cesar Cielo and both will be racing in Brazil - Watch it at the 'Universal Sports' website this weekend!

Tara Kirk, denied a legitimate spot on the US Olympic Swim team after Jessica Hardy tested positive for a banned substance will swim in Brazil. Looks like Tara Kirk may be swimming the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke and you can see it all at here at the 'Universal Sports' website: [Link]

Here is another article at Universal Sports regarding Tara Kirk an her come back in Brazil and he considerations about that fiasco with the USA Swimming and Olympic Trials fiasco: "... Kirk is back racing following a tumultuous summer, where she failed to make the U.S. Olympic team at the Beijing Games by an excruciating 0.001 seconds, then entered a continuing legal battle with USA Swimming over an Olympic berth denied her in the 100-meter breaststroke after Jessica Hardy was found to have tested positive for the banned substance Clenbuterol shortly after Olympics trials in early July. "..."

The latest: "... Last week Kirk’s attorney received a letter from USA Swimming asking Kirk to pay the federation’s attorney fees. Meanwhile, other swimmers have been slow to join the fight. Kirk doesn’t blame them. She says swimmers might be afraid the federation would retaliate.

“There is always that risk, when you go against the establishment, the little guy is going to end up with the short end of the stick,” she says. “It’s hard. It’s one of those things where you burn a lot of bridges...It takes an emotional toll.”

But Kirk, who says she still mourns her lost Olympic experience, says she could not drop the issue for another reason...."

And USA Swimming, it's directors and employees have no problem ding that to an American swimmer who tried to represent her country? She has to get congress involved. She is waging to polite of an argument.

You got to go to read the article to find out. :-P [Link]

'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.

One has to ask how culpable USADA/USA Swimming are for this Olympic team mess-up!

I spoke with someone close to this situation by email this morning and they filled me into the missed details by the two organizations that are suppose to serve the athletes.

On July 21st the IOC required an Olympic team roster from USA Swimming. Yesterday, three days past that deadline it was leaked that Jessica Hardy had tested positive for a banned substance. (Newsweek reported that it may have been a stimulant which could be as simple as an antihistamine or something more insidious as meth.)

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) performed the test and obviously notified USA Swimming before the July 21st deadline. One would think that either USA Swimming would have pushed USADA to deliver results well before they had to declare a de facto team or that USA Swimming would have scheduled Olympic Trials earlier enough to ensure that all their athletes rights would be respected.

In project management textbooks they talk of deliverables and milestones that should signed off and closely managed. I didn't see that here.

From USA Swimming's perceived "secret deals" with the Wasserman Media Group (WMG), the accusations from TYR that USA Swimming is engaging in anti-trust tactics with Speedo, and the bullying of Floswimming. One has to wonder who is running the shop there!