Rome News Tribune Ga

Rome News Tribune Ga

Rome News Tribune Ga

Posted on: February 05, 2012 - 3:01 pm
by Admin

High-tech competition swimsuits are out — at least for now.

The polyurethane competitive swimsuits worn in the Olympic Games were banned by FINA, swimming's international governing body, following the 2009 World Championships in Rome, where an abnormally high number of world records were broken. For most organizations, the high-tech competitive swimsuits were banned at the beginning of 2010. For United States Masters Swimming, the final group to ban the suits, the last chance to wear the competitive swimsuits was in May at the USMS National Championships in Atlanta, Ga.

To encourage USMS swimmers to wear the high-tech competition swimsuits, some companies offered special deals to swimmers. With these deals the swimmers could purchase the competitive suits for $100 — much less than the standard $500-$800 the suits used to cost — and return the suit on June 1, 2010. When the suit was returned, swimmers would receive 30 percent off the new, legal competitive swimsuit, according to an advertisement run by one company.

New FINA Competitive Swimsuit Rules

Now, FINA has imposed much stronger regulations on the competitive swimsuits, in terms of what they can be made of and how much of the swimmers' body can be covered. For male athletes, the competitive swimsuit can only cover the swimmer from the knee to the navel. For female athletes the suit can span from the knee to the shoulder. Suits can only be made of textile materials, rather than the rubber-like material seen in the 2008 Olympic Games and 2009 World Championships.