Skinsuit makers to give away swim suits for fairness

Skinsuit makers to give away swim suits for fairness

NO swimmers will be left on the blocks in inferior swimsuits with the sport's governing body moving to ensure a level playing field at the Games. FINA has opened the gates at the Watercube to representatives from the major swimsuit brands, Speedo, Arena, Adidas and Tyr, who will be on hand at the pool in Beijing to provide swimsuits to national federations so no one misses out.


Is the Speedo swimsuit fair? Have your say.


Advances in swimsuit technology have created an avalanche of world records this year, the bulk of which have been broken in Speedo's space-age LZR Racer, which was launched amid a flur

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ry of publicity in February.

Rival brands were left playing catch-up, with FINA approving new suits from Arena, Adidas and Mizuno at a meeting in June.

Earlier this year, Olympic great Kieren Perkins suggested during the Australian Olympic trials the new high-tech swimsuits could create a split in the sport between the ''haves and have nots''.

But FINA chief executive Cornel Marculescu was confident no swimmers would be disadvantaged.
"It will be fair because we have a rule that says the swimsuits should be available for all the swimmers,'' Marculescu said.

"We have arranged for the most important manufacturers, the manufacturers who are sponsoring a majority of world federations like Speedo, Arena, Adidas, Tyr, and we provide them accreditation to be available on pooldeck and provide swimsuits if federations require (them).

"So everybody can have access to the swimsuits they want. It should be the federations that should be requesting this.

"If a federation has a contract with, for example, Arena, the other manufacturers have to respect this. But if the federations want to change the contract, it's up to the federation.''

Marculescu did not expect debate over the impact of the suits to overshadow performances at the Games.

"The No.1 tool of the swimmers is the preparation of the swimmers,'' he said.

"I know everyone says there has been a lot of world records this year, but also prior to the Sydney Games there were a lot of world records and prior to Athens.

"The Olympics is a lot of additional motivation to prepare themselves. If you are not a good swimmer, if you are not well-prepared, if you are not a star, you can not have a world record.''