04/25/24
July 24, 2009
The end of the high-tech swimsuit (and the poolside wardrobe malfunction): After a year of wrangling over the specifications of swimsuits, the world governing body FINA has decided to call the whole thing off: from 2010, competitions under its jurisdiction will outlaw full-body suits and limit the materials used for their construction. This week's world championships will be the final hoorah for the bodysuit, after a decade of innovation (and embarrassment) and the records set in Rome are likely to go into the books with an asterisk.
While we're at it, why not have F1 drivers use cars from the 60's and 70's? The lap records would be "true" records based on the driver's actions, not by how much assistance they received from their car.
Technology marches on. As long as it is available to all (which it wasn't in this case, particularly a few years ago), I have no problem with athletes using current technology.
posted by dusted at 04:11 PM on July 24, 2009
Technology marches on. As long as it is available to all (which it wasn't in this case, particularly a few years ago), I have no problem with athletes using current technology.
Agreed. I would also agree to this paragraph if it was in a Bonds thread.
posted by tron7 at 05:32 PM on July 24, 2009
What sport hasn't seen improvements due to refined equiqment? (be it swimsuits, tires, bats, golf balls, skis, shoes, etc) Time and Technology do indeed march on.
As to steroids, given the health consequences, and the fact that it might influence a 14 year old to use them, I disagree. I have no problem with a 14 year old using the latest technology in swimsuits, don't want them using the latest drug on the market. (really hoping that this tread doesn't turn into another steroid thread)
posted by dviking at 10:58 PM on July 24, 2009
Everybody should do everything naked. All accoutrements, from shotputs to yachts, should be made from see-through material. Anyone found with an opaque substance should be banned for life and roundly ostracized.
posted by bobfoot at 02:49 AM on July 25, 2009
I'm not sure I'd want to see sumo wrestlers in see-through attire.
posted by outonleave at 06:37 AM on July 25, 2009
Everybody should do everything naked.
That's it for me and men's sports then.
posted by billsaysthis at 02:27 PM on July 25, 2009
Yeah, but I'll bet Title IX becomes moot.
posted by bobfoot at 12:35 AM on July 26, 2009
"Everybody should do everything naked."
Please, I just finished dinner!
posted by jjzucal at 10:42 PM on July 26, 2009
Late back to this, but I'm ambivalent. The F1 analogy doesn't quite hold up because the car's the star (and there's a constructor's championship to make the point). You also have plenty of lower-tier series where the chassis is But that leads to another issue: swimming, like all Olympic sports, doesn't permit mechanically-powered transport, but the top equestrians have the best horses, the top cyclists the best bikes, the top bobsledders the best sled, and so on.
I suppose the real issue here was that the regulations had become entangled in the elite swimmers' endorsement deals, with the Speedo endorsees coming out against the Jaked J01. And you also had those elite swimmers (such as Jason Lezak) saying explicitly that the suits were distorting the results. So FINA was basically left in a position where it was going to be spending all of its time approving new suits on an individual basis, and it made more sense to establish a new baseline -- and to go back to F1, it's worth remembering that the steps taken to tame and then ban turbos through the 1980s, primarily for safety, but also to make the racing competitive.
posted by etagloh at 06:28 PM on July 28, 2009
How about we go back to the swimwear of the 60's and 70's? Then world records would be "true" records based on the swimmer's actions, not by how much assistance they received from their clothing.