Alshammar's 50m Butterfly WR Has Been Rejected!

Therese Alshammar was wearing a Jaked swimsuit, a European brand which uses a fabric that appears to be chloroprene in nature. The suit has few seams, an indented cut in the chest area and could provide modesty issues for swimmers.

From The Australian:

Alshammar immediately submitted an appeal against her disqualification. But after discussing the rules with referee Janelle Barnett, Alshammar elected to withdraw her appeal.

Alshammar told The Australian she had misunderstood the local swimsuit rules: "I'm still happy with the swim - it's just a technicality in my eyes.

"I have obviously not understood the rules of the Australian championships. I was wearing a unisex suit which does not cover my chest completely so I need to wear an old cut-down suit underneath. I thought it was a modesty suit. It's just so I don't fall out the side, to feel more comfortable."

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Alshammar's 50 meter 'fly World Record may be DQed!

This is going to be interesting. CBC Canada says she wore two suits but it wasn't two speedsuits. From CBC.CA:

"... Therese Alshammar of Sweden..., 31, clocked 25.44 seconds in her qualifying heat at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, shaving 0.02 seconds off the world record she set at a meet in Barcelona, Spain, on June 13, 2007.

But officials later discovered that she was wearing two swim suits, which is no longer permissible under revised requirements ratified last Saturday by FINA, the governing body for swimming.

Meet organizers were not available for comment. ..."

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But what if she was wearing a training brief underneath for modesty reasons? From The Australian:

Alshammar, 31, was wearing a brief training suit underneath a racing bodysuit and may be ruled to have breached the new rule which restricts swimmers to wearing only one swimsuit in competition.

The Swimming Australia swimsuit rules allow swimmers to wear a brief suit under the racing suit for modesty purposes but the new FINA requirement, as published at the weekend, is a blanket one-suit-only rule.

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The 'FINA Arena World Cup' featured great performances and big payouts!

This FINA Arena World Cup was a great meet and you can get a PDF of the results at Lane 9 News. [Link]

For instance: Randall Bal "leapfrogged" three of Peter Marshall's WRs in the 50scm backstroke to claim the title.

Tara Kirk really did well finishing first in both the 50scm, and the 100scm breaststroke with little training.

Kara Lynn Joyce stands out too finishing 3rd in the 50scm free and 6th in the 400scm free which is pretty impressive considering that she is a sprinter.

Then there were the WRs set by Alshammar but then eclipsed by Guehrer Marieke in the last heat of the 50scm fly.

We need more of these international races.

Stefan Nystrand and Theresa Alshammar "race" each other in a yogurt commercial!

Alshammar eyes are like blue diamonds with a pupil in the center of each one!

Theresa Alshammar sprinting - Note her head position!

It's official, great swimmers look up when sprinting. So far Cesar Cielo and Alexander Popov are the only swimmers I can find who look down when sprinting.