Friday, June 5, 2009

B70 Has Been Dissed

I hear that Blueseventy, the manufacturer of controversy, I mean the Nero Comp technical competition swimsuit, is going to sue FINA over their controversial decision to disallow this specific swimsuit making it illegal to wear in competition. The decision is not based on the scientific testing that has been performed over the last several months. The ruling is based on subjectivity, due to the problem that the suit has in trapping either air or water in the zipper area of the back. FINA has arbitrarily decided that because of this design flaw these suits are deemed inappropriate for competition. Blueseventy has asked for clarification about the design flaw, but FINA has not come up with a response. I think that the suit manufacturer should come up with its own solutions to the problem and not rely on FINA or another governing body of the sport to dictate to them how they should manufacture their product. Although FINA is not handling the swimsuit issues very well, I do not think that they should have to tell any manufacturer how to make their product, they only need to approve the design and function of a suit.

1 comment:

Rob D said...

Even if I didn't have an appreciation for tech suits this would still make me mad as a small business owner. By being incapable of making a clear decision FINA is pushing smaller players out of swimming. Even some of the big guys (like nike) don't really want much to do with swimming anymore! As a consumer I'd rather have the choice of 10 manufacturers than 2. It keeps products and prices competitive.

For what its worth, as of this moment the B70 and everything else that has been legal is still legal in USMS until further notice.