Leading Coaches Call for Ban on New Swimsuit Technology
As records continue to tumble, Australia's head coach has claimed that new suits are trivializing top-level competition
Australia's head swimming coach, Alan Thompson, has called on Fina, the sport's governing body, to ban the approval of new swimsuits after another glut of world records.
The Frenchman Amaury Leveaux set his fourth world-best at the European Short-Course Championships in Rijeka last night, taking the overall number of world records this year to 102, and furthering widespread concerns that the advance in swimsuit technology is trivializing high-level competition.
"What I've put to the board at the moment is that we don't approve any more swimsuits until we've resolved this issue surrounding the technology of the swimsuits," said Thompson.
Thompson has become the latest swimming coach to criticize Fina's intransigence, after last week coaches from 15 of the leading 17 European nations presented a petition to Fina calling for reform.Thompson has also called for an immediate ban of swimmers wearing more than one suit at the same time in order to improve buoyancy.
His stance emerged after he claimed a "large number" of swimmers, including the Beijing gold medalist and Italian world record-holder Federica Pellegrini, are combining the brands by wearing them in layers. "In the rule book it talks about bias and the use of any device to a swimmer such as flippers and paddles, but what we're looking for is to have the limit of swimsuits included in that," said Thompson.
"It's not illegal, but those things need to be looked at. I'm sick of the controversy of saying the Speedo suit beat the Arena suit. It should be about who beat who."
The current imbalance between those using the Speedo and Arena bodysuits has also led to protests by leading swimmers, including Thomas Rupprath, a world record-holder until this weekend. He and his German team-mate Helge Meeuw swam in Adidas briefs in Friday's 50m backstroke final, finishing fifth and eighth respectively.
Rupprath and Meeuw believe their national federation's deal with the sportswear giant, who have eschewed recent technological advances in swimwear and restrict the use of any other brand by German athletes, has hampered their ability to compete at the highest level.
Meanwhile, in Rijeka the British quartet of Hannah Miley, Lizzie Simmonds, Georgia Davies and Kris Gilchrist all progressed to this evening's finals.
The Frenchman Amaury Leveaux set his fourth world-best at the European Short-Course Championships in Rijeka last night, taking the overall number of world records this year to 102, and furthering widespread concerns that the advance in swimsuit technology is trivializing high-level competition.
"What I've put to the board at the moment is that we don't approve any more swimsuits until we've resolved this issue surrounding the technology of the swimsuits," said Thompson.
Thompson has become the latest swimming coach to criticize Fina's intransigence, after last week coaches from 15 of the leading 17 European nations presented a petition to Fina calling for reform.Thompson has also called for an immediate ban of swimmers wearing more than one suit at the same time in order to improve buoyancy.
His stance emerged after he claimed a "large number" of swimmers, including the Beijing gold medalist and Italian world record-holder Federica Pellegrini, are combining the brands by wearing them in layers. "In the rule book it talks about bias and the use of any device to a swimmer such as flippers and paddles, but what we're looking for is to have the limit of swimsuits included in that," said Thompson.
"It's not illegal, but those things need to be looked at. I'm sick of the controversy of saying the Speedo suit beat the Arena suit. It should be about who beat who."
The current imbalance between those using the Speedo and Arena bodysuits has also led to protests by leading swimmers, including Thomas Rupprath, a world record-holder until this weekend. He and his German team-mate Helge Meeuw swam in Adidas briefs in Friday's 50m backstroke final, finishing fifth and eighth respectively.
Rupprath and Meeuw believe their national federation's deal with the sportswear giant, who have eschewed recent technological advances in swimwear and restrict the use of any other brand by German athletes, has hampered their ability to compete at the highest level.
Meanwhile, in Rijeka the British quartet of Hannah Miley, Lizzie Simmonds, Georgia Davies and Kris Gilchrist all progressed to this evening's finals.
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