The Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) has agreed to ban the record-breaking swimsuit technology that led to 108 world records last year and almost 30 already this year, according to reports from several sources including the Associated Press.
The new rule will not take effect until 2010, as the 13th FINA World Championship is currently underway in Rome. According to swimnews.com the rule, SW10.7 reads: “No swimmer shall be permitted to use or wear any device or swimsuit that may aid his/her speed, buoyancy or endurance during a competition (such as webbed gloves, flippers, fins, etc.). Goggles may be worn. Any kind of tape on the body is not permitted.”
The ruling means that all use of non-textile fabrics will be barred by Jan. 1, 2010. The argument for the ruling is that the non-textile suits, made from polyurethane, provide more speed and buoyancy to the swimmers, according to several published reports. Yet swimsuit makers may argue that advances in sport technology can only benefit the sport and to deny access to these technologies would be putting the sport back decades to before it existed.
