Sport Industry Group

FINA considers adopting two world record marks- 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00

The argument over the use of high-tech bodysuits in swimming has taken another turn after it was revealed the world governing body FINA is considering recommendations to adopt two sets of world records – one for times set using the performance-enhancing apparel and one without.

The Coaches Commission of FINA has recommended to the world governing body’s ruling executive, which meets in January, the creation of a ‘World Textile Mark’ which would honour swimmers who beat world records that stood prior to 1st January, 2008, when all race suits were made of textile.

A new set of rules regarding the use of bodysuits is set to come in on 1st January which will bans suits that do not revert back to the ‘textile-only’ version of the apparel.

In the 22 months since the launch of the Speedo LZR Racer, with several other high-tech suits following in its wake, no fewer than 234 world records have fallen.

The race suits, made of polyurethane and neoprene, aided buoyancy, speed and endurance by compressing tired muscles.

If the proposal of coaches is taken up, event organisers and suitmakers are likely to offer two levels of world-record bonuses: one for those who get past the world record as it stood on 1st January, 2008, and another for those who pass suit-assisted performances.

Many would like to see a line drawn in the record books that does what coaches are suggesting, without the need for parallel sets of records: anyone who gets past a world record that stood on 1st January, 2008 would be the next world record-holder, without reference to the high-tech era.

At the January meeting, the executive will also consider whether to recommend that the International Olympic Committee scraps the 800 metres freestyle for women, one of the events in which Rebecca Adlington claimed gold for Britain in Beijing in 2008. Coaches want the men’s and women’s Olympic programme to be the same.