At FINA's World Championship event, the latest in swimsuit technology definitely appears to be helping set numerous world records, but the future for these "supersuits" looks bleak. FINA, swimming's international governing body released the following statement from their recent meeting at the World Championship:
On its first meeting held today in Rome (ITA), the 2009-2013 FINA Bureau fully complied with the decision of the FINA Congress, held on July 24, 2009 related with the procedure concerning swimwear approval. As it was also decided by the Congress, these rules are now By-Laws rules, which allow the Bureau to further control, update and correct any deviation to the process or to proceed with any necessary adjustment related to the development of the swimsuit technology.
The FINA Bureau decisions on swimsuits include:
MATERIAL – The material of the swimsuits will definitively be constituted only by textile fabric(s). The definition of “textile” will be made by a group of scientific experts chosen by FINA and led by Prof. Jan-Anders Manson, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne (SUI). This definition will be available to manufacturers by no later than September 30, 2009. The first definition of “textile” to be further confirmed by this group is: “Material consisting of, natural and/or synthetic, individual and non consolidated yarns used to constitute a fabric by weaving, knitting, and/or braiding.”
SHAPE – For men, the swimsuit shall not extend above the navel nor below the knee, and for women, shall not cover the neck, extend past the shoulder, nor extend below knee. Furthermore, no zippers or other fastening system is allowed.
USE – In the regulation approved by the Congress, the swimmer can only wear one swimsuit and no taping is allowed.
TESTS – Only measurable scientific tests will be performed within the frame of the swimwear approval procedure. For thickness, the 1mm limit will be adjusted to 0.8mm, for buoyancy the present value of 1 Newton will be reduced to 0.5 (FINA will even consider the limit of 0 Newton), and for permeability the material(s) used must have at any point a value of more than 80l/m2/second. Permeability values are measured on material with a standard multidirectional stretch of 25%. These parameters will be further considered by the above mentioned scientific group.
CONSISTENCY – Swimsuits effectively manufactured and used shall correspond to and be fully consistent with submitted samples. Any modification before use (including impregnation) is prohibited. Moreover, there shall be no variation/modification for individual swimmers.
APPLICATION – Considering the time needed for manufacturers to produce their swimsuits, the submission dates and the implementation of the rules are applicable from 2010 only in Swimming competitions.
From what I have read, the rule change will probably not take effect until around April of next year, so as to give suit manufacturers the time to create suits within compliance of the new rules. As this is a recent rule change, USA Swimming (to my knowledge) has not yet changed their rules to reflect the international changes, but one can only assume that USA Swimming will soon enough follow in FINA's wake, just as they had announced over the past few months that they would agree to the same rules previously set out. I have sent an email to the National Federation of High Schools (governing body for High School Sports) regarding the rule change, and if I receive a response, I will post it here in an update.
