The rules in 'Formula One' racing have been raised as an ad hoc analogy as to why speedsuits should be banned!

Formula One cars are incomprehensibly powerful. The drivers who race Formula One cars are incomprehensibly insane. The economic costs of a crashed Formula One car with a very dead Formula One driver therein is incomprehensibly immoral.

Comparing speedsuits to Formula One cars is simply a rhetorical device and I wish that both writers and bloggers would put a stop to it.

Below is a sample clip of a Formula One race in the rain. Now with a straight face, tell me that these two drivers are not a couple of clowns short of a circus. Especially note how crazy it gets at the :30-second mark.



When such people as Craig Lord, or Scott of the Canuck Swimmer, or even French sprinter, David Maitre, bring up Formula One racing as an example as to why speedsuits need heavy controls so as to make swimming "fair," I see clever salesmanship in progress rather than a factual argument.

After watching the clip above do you see how incomprehensible it is to compare our two sports in regards to technological rules?

Libby Trickett: "Suit burners are Luddites"

I had a email conversation with Ahelee about how an "old boys network" will be deciding the fate of speedsuits and that we have yet to hear any female voices; Well, here's one and she actually swims too. From the Sydney Morning Herald:

"...MULTIPLE Olympic gold medal winner Libby Trickett believes banning the use of hi-tech bodysuits would set the sport "back a decade".

"...I read that in 1972, I think, there were 53 world records broken, and there has been 54 [long course] this year," Trickett said. "What provided that difference that year?

"...I don't think it really makes sense to ban the suits across the board, because then we would be going back over a decade ago to when we were just wearing the togs - and that, to me, would be a reversal in the sport. I don't see why we would want to go back to that time.

[Link]

Well that shows you, Clay Evans, Blogger Scott, and Craig Lord. ;-P

The photo of Libby Trickett came from ABC.net.

'The Canuck Swimmer' has an article about 'Tech Doping" on the half-shell

If the panels, plates or strutures on the Speedo LZR are rigid and corset-like, I really can't say it better than Scott:

"... Muscle compression is the key to the suit’s success but only incidentally, because the compression is not a design feature – it is merely a consequence of the design. The body fits into the suit rather than the suit fitting up against the body. It is a racing shell which is worn! Forget the fact the LZR Racer is made out of fabric. The suit is to all intents and purposes a racing shell – a boat, albeit a soft sided boat, but a boat nevertheless! And using a boat to reduce your drag is most definitely a swimming aid, and aids to swimming are specifically banned under FINA’s own rules. FINA was looking in the wrong place. The LZR Racer is illegal! ..." [Link]

Here is a PDF document issued by FINA regarding swimsuit, goggles, and cap specifications:

In section 3.1 B, the document states: "...Regular flat fabrics and exclusion of outside applications: the fabrics used shall be regular and shall not form outstanding shapes or structures, such as scales. No outside application shall be added on the fabrics (use of different fabrics, see below). ... It is further clarified that: the application of fabrics put on top of each other as a result of a manufacturing/application process to combine the fabrics is permitted provided that this remains in the usual thickness and does not create outstanding shape(s) or structure(s). ..."[Link]

"Natalie on the Half-Shell" above is a composited image I created by combining a scallop shell that I found from this website: [Link] And a promo image of the Speedo LZR posted at dailymail.co.uk here: [Link]