FINA Will Keep an Eye on Suit Designs

Technical suits worn at the world swimming championships in Rome in late July will face more strict design standards and must be approved by an independent laboratory before the event, officials from swimming's world governing body (FINA) recommended Friday, but the suit behind the vast majority of world records in 2008 is not expected to be affected by the changes.

Speedo's popular LZR Racer likely will be approved for competition this season, while other suits known more for bouyancy, such as those made by the company blueseventy, might face restrictions, two FINA officials who declined to be identified said.

After a meeting yesterday in Lausanne with 16 swimsuit manufacturers, officials from FINA's technical, legal, coaches and athletes commissions released their recommendations, which will be submitted in the the FINA Burea for approval at a March 12-14 meeting in Dubai.

Officials "estimate the impact is minimal now because more or less all [of the current suits] comply with the rules," a FINA official said.

The most significant element of the proposal is a ban on wearing more than one technical suit at a time. Athletes have reportedly been wearing two or even three suits simultaneously to take advantage of, say, the sleekness of one and the buoyancy of another.

FINA called for the establishment of an independent testing program led Jan-Anders Manson from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and Laboratory of Polymer and Composite Technology to conduct the analysis on the suits.

The proposal set certain guidelines for suit manufacturers, including that suits not be more than 1 milimeter in thickness or extend past the shoulders or ankles. The proposal hinted at a far more significant rule tightening by January of next year after issues of permeability and compression are studied.

That analysis, one official said, could result in restrictions on the LZR, which compresses the muscles, and comparable suits. The LZR and other popular suits are not completely permeable. When air gets trapped inside such suits, it can enhance buoyancy.

"The real changes are going to come in phase two," said one FINA official. "We're definitely on the right path."

No national federations were represented at the meeting, but three officials from the United States were present: former USA Swimming President Dale Neuberger, now a FINA vice president; Carol Zaleski, a FINA technical committee member; and John Leonard, a member of the coaches committee.

Leonard has been extremely outspoken on the issue of the suits and has led calls for a rule-tightening.