Back to the Future

June 9 -

On May 19th, FINA (the governing body of swimming) challenged the validity and enhancing capabilities of 146 types of high-tech swim suits. In my last blog, I argued that while FINA should set boundaries and limit the progression of suits, they should not selectively ban suits for monetary gain.  This might be the reason I am up in arms over their ruling.  In my blog, I introduced the blueseventy Nero, which was recently put on the list of temporarily banned suits.  The reason given that Blue Seventy was banned from the approved list was the suit “may cause significant air trapping when worn by the swimmers.”  

In science, there is a premium on quantitative data. We want numbers for everything.  No scientist would dare to publish data without being able to answer the simple question of: How much?  It would be a laughable and an unprofessional offense.  The idea that FINA’s scientists could allow FINA to ban a suit while using the word “may” makes me as a scientist upset.  Not passing criteria is one thing, but according to blueseventy they passed every quantitative test that FINA completed on their fast suits: “As a company, we were very comfortable with the criteria for testing that FINA had outlined, our suits passed well under the threshold for buoyancy and thickness proposed by them.“

Blueseventy has 30 days to make modifications to the suit so that it no longer traps air, but trapping air is not a measurable value that can be measured by FINA and would conceivably be variable depending on each swimmer wearing the suit.   Body types, weight and even gender would dictate the ability to trap air. But what if a swimmer wore a suit a size too big? That would also trap air, but would be a negative for performance since the suit would be too large.  The claim of extreme air trapping is not a black or white issue and would certainly be subjective.

So why was blueseventy not accepted? One can only have conspiracy theories at this point.  In my last blog I discussed how Speedo essentially has held a monopoly over the suit making industry since the revolution began in making fast suits.  Could Speedo actually feel threatened by a new competitor that could steal some of its thunder? Could Speedo want blueseventy off market?  No one will ever know the answers to those questions.  They can only form their own opinions. However I am sure of two things: 1) blueseventy deserves answers in asking for quantitative data and explanation of their banishment, and 2) Speedo will be making a lot of money in the coming months.