The controversy around swimming world’s photo a few weeks ago, and Darren’s flo coverage of the Mel Zajac meet reminded me of a story. My hometown Viking Swim Club used to go to a meet in May in Prince Rupert, B.C. We thought short course meters was kind of cool, and getting Canadian money at the bank was awesome. If you turned in ten bucks they gave you like 14 of their fancy colorized dollars back! Plus, when you buy a GI Joe toy in Canada, the package is in French and English. That’s a big deal when you’re ten years old.
Anyway, the story is that I was chosen to hold the American flag during the anthem before the first session of the meet. My high point rival, Jeremy, held the Canadian flag. We stood behind lanes three and four and leaned the pole on the block to hold them out over the water.
Holding it up for both songs was kind of agonizing. I started to get a little tired and wobbly. By the end of the music I just couldn’t help it… I accidentally dipped the American flag in the water.
The gasp from the crowd sounded like an extra, mistimed cymbal crash added to the song.
Of course, they knew I wasn’t being disrespectful… I was ten years old. The team parents did point it out, but they were nice about it.
It wasn’t like the way I was treated by the parents from the University of Cincinnati at the National Independent meet in ‘93... but of course, drawing the “boo-hiss” at a college meet was kind of an honor. Those kind of gestures are usually reserved for only the best players in the premier sports. That’s the first time I was called the "Dennis Rodman of swimming" by a coach who has been called the "Bobby Knight of swimming"… but I guess that's a story for another day.
When I was a kid, we owned a hunk of junk truck for a little while. One night, some 19 year old punk decided to take it joyriding and he ran it off into a ditch and left it totalled. Then, the next morning he was dumb enough to brag about it to one of my dad's friends.
My dad showed up at the cafe and drug the kid to the police station by his hair.
So if anyone is dumb enough to brag to you about robbing our pool last night and getting away with two desktop computers, a wireless router, a tv and some candy from the vending machine...
let me know so I can drag him to the police station myself.
This was not how I wanted to start my week.
It is a darn good thing I took a hy-tek backup home on friday.
I cut and pasted this comment from the floswimming Blue 70 Response to FINA's Ruling video. Of course, I have no way to confirm or deny any of it. For all we know someone at Blue 70 could have made it all up and posted it themselves. Or hell, maybe the Masons and the higher ups in the military who covered up the fiasco at area 51 are involved. Either way... I thought readers would find it interesting in light of all of the craziness involved with our current tech suit mess. It sure explains a lot, and it would be a heck of a thorough fabrication, if it is one.
Take it for what it is: an anonymous comment.
Whistle blower
I am an Australian Coach with swimmers at both junior and senior nationals level. I personally really don’t care which suits my athletes wear provided they are happy. Those of us without our head in the sand have watched this Blueseventy sage unfold from months and months ago. I have been reading and watching the blogs mentioned below . The scaq article a week or so back on “fiddling” really pricked my conscious and finally I cannot keep quiet - You just don’t know the half of it.
This whole plot was hatched last year. By December 2008 Blueseventy was developing real acceptance and at the Qld Sate champs maybe 2/3 of the finalists were in these suits. The suit was seen as fast as the LZR but the popularity at age level was because the suit cost less, lasted longer, was reliable and easily available ! My parents loved it. National Head Coach Allan Thompson unusually was on deck for this week. He was quite open in going around telling coaches and swimmers that the blueseventy suit was to be banned. By the end of the week the SAL board had been assembled at the venue and within a day of the meets finish he was quite correct . They passed a ruling banning the use of zips in all suits for all age groups 18 &U;. This effectively took Blueseventy brand and its only suits right out of the volume aussie age group market in one foul swoop.
The reasons they gave were without any real foundation and incredibly transparent. Few bought into it , we all knew what had gone down. However the Blueseventy suit still continued to gain momentum with senior national level swimmers especially because of support. However during this time Mr Thompson was contacting us and talking about trapping of air in suits. The comment amongst coaches was he is “rallying support” but we didn’t quite understand for what.
So came the Dubai Charter and then came our Champs and World Trials in March. On the second day of the trials swimmers in blueseventy won three events in a row in National and two Commonwealth records. Huge media exposure - it was the talking point on the deck. The next day Speedo and Thompson swung into action. At scheduled and impromptu coaches meetings he made it quite clear that the blueseventy suit was to be banned for Rome and coaches and athletes needed to wary. We just watched as coaches and swimmers abandoned the suits and medallists that didn’t were told to roll their suits down before fronting the media. That week he was really focused and he kept plugging away at the suit and air trapping .
In retrospect he already knew what the Fina outcome was to be back then ? This must have been orchestrated months and months ago when they had to get the right presence on the Fina boards and to think we supported and voted him in there! They knew the suit would pass the tests so they created a test of opinion it couldn’t pass.
Do i think Fina were complicit, actually no, I think they were totally hoodwinked. See we have never seen a brand really challenge Speedo like this in its own domain of competitive swimming in 20 years , so some of us coaches think this was all set up from last year, to leave Speedo as last man standing. Actually we know it ! Over the years Speedo have had no real fear from TYR and Arena but in just 12 months Blueseventy changed that. They had to pull the Fina approval system down and the have it reassembled to suit them?
A few simple questions on the above will reveal and verify its integrity and accuracy. Even media reports show Thompsons outspoken support of Speedo and the LZR before and after nomination to the Fina suits committee and there’s more, much more ! Like asking only blueseventy representative athletes, to express in writing what sensation the suit gave them, such replies no doubt being edited and selectively tabled at the Fina meeting. And so on ...............
I wish i could reveal my name but to do so i will be vilified. Speedo and Thompson take no prisoners and it will have a direct affect on my family, club and swimmers not excluding the SAL controlled and nominated subsidies and grants we need to receive.
Relieved Aussie Coach
Recently at SwimNews, Craig Lord posted the following quotes:
"The blogs and forums of the swimming world are awash with opinion and speculation and accusations that range from libellous fabrication to the probable but unknown, with a sound nugget of biting truth in between. One thing many comments have in common: many believe that the first round of FINA independent suit testing was fixed to favour the LZR."
and
"a footnote to the blogging blockheads who believe that scribbling notes on the internet under a made-up name places them beyond a requirement to operate within truth and the law..."
I have to ask, am I one of the "blogging blockheads" Mr. Lord is referring to? Does he consider my blog to be a libelous fabrication? I am the only swim blogger I know of who doesn’t make my personal info common knowledge, but he could just be talking about all of the “anonymous cowards” leaving comments all over the web. I have to wonder though; does Craig Lord read my blog? Is he a Viking fan?
I really do respect Craig Lord at SwimNews, even if I like to pick on him for out-ranting the best of us. We need a champion for skin. Mr. Lord is the passionate journalist who is bravely leading the charge. I have expressed this before even though I don’t agree with him on all points. I just felt he crossed the line by ripping into Fred Bousqet with what can easily be read as a personal attack. I sided with Brett Hawke on that one. I contend that past generations of athletes whose records have disappeared are not the only victims in the tech mess. With the way things are playing out, our current stars are also victims. Bousqet did nothing wrong. He was playing the game as it had to be played. No world class athlete can afford not to. To face the possibility of having a world record stripped would be hard for anyone under any circumstances.
At floswimming, it was exhausting to see everything become about suits. At times it has been the same at SwimNews… and I am not saying they should shut up about suits. It is the topic of our times and we need loud voices to hash it out until a solution is determined. I just have to say that part of the reason I started my blogspot is that I felt it was unfair to feed the suit monster at floswimming. It’s not fair to Garrett because his site is about promoting and celebrating the sport. When I posted my article about trying to gain a TYR sponsorship (which I still can’t believe hasn’t happened yet) I honestly felt a little dirty, not for what I said, but for starting an argument about suits once again. At that point, the dead horse had already been pulverized to a fine red mist. And when people started cutting into Dana Vollmer after Pac-10’s and NCAA’s I was downright disgusted. I am trying to be selective about what I post at flo nowadays because I don’t want to contribute to the negativity. Just like we need a Craig Lord ranting about suits in our troubled times, we need Garrett McCaffrey to help us to celebrate all of the awesome things that are going on during the peak of swimming’s popularity. I don’t want my contributions to take away from that, so some of my posts, you will only see on my blogspot.
Mr. Lord, I blog under a pseudonym for a reason, and it is not because I think it brings me above accountability. If I am what you consider to be a blockhead, and you want to call me out, you are welcome to join the blogfight and you are also welcome to track me down to talk it out over the phone. It is not hard to learn who I am and get into contact with me… just don’t pass my contact info on to my hategroupies. I have earned a few at flo.
And if you aren’t talking about me… well then, uh… nevermind… I guess. No big deal, eh? Keep fighting the good fight.
Yeah, Grevers is mad for a reason.
According to Swimming World, Blue Seventy has been left off completely, and the Arena X-Glide is out as well. SwimNews says that the Jaked suits on the list do not include the Jaked 01, which is the suit Fred Bousquet used when he broke the 21 barrier in the 50 free. In glancing at the list, I see TYR models A12, A7 and A10 which Swimming World also reports are the Tracer Rise, Tracer Light and another suit in development… so that means the TYR Titan is also gone.
Tony Austin brings up a great point as always, in that FINA is allowing people paid by Speedo to be on the committee that makes the decisions regarding the list, which is ridiculous. Tony and I are both on the same page in our thinking that Speedo has too much influence and this list pretty much proves us right. The line was drawn at the LZR, and every recent suit that could be considered better was removed from competition. If I were a betting man, I would have won big cash. I really worried that the LZR would be approved and anything better would be cut. Talk about dead on the money!!
Now here is where I have issues with all of it. Everyone knows I would love to do away with the tech, but I think that FINA has made a real blunder here. Keeping the LZR and ditching the rest leaves us no better… it actually makes it all worse:
1. They haven’t solved the issue of cost. The LZR is still $550 and new suits that comply will still have an outrageous price tag.
2. We still can't compare with past generations.
3. What do we do with records set in unapproved suits? Craig Lord is already proudly announcing that the sub-21 50 free by Bousquet and sub-47 100 free by Bernard never happened.
4. With the LZR still in play, don’t we still have the same issues with ‘performance enhancement?’ The “world record bull run” started with Speedo and their “2%” improvement.
5. What happens to all of those athletes who are sponsored by companies who will now be struggling because Speedo is the only major tech suit still legal?
6. The only issue that might be solved here is that of the “level playing field,” since now Speedo will own nearly 100% of the market share.
If you are gonna allow the LZR, you better allow the rest or you have solved ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. You were right, Mr. Schubert. It is going to be a “real test of character.” And FINA might have just shown that they have none by allowing the richest swimsuit company to set the rules by which all the rest must play.
I think that this list might be the straw that broke the camel’s back to help TYR win their anti-trust lawsuit. Thoughts, anyone?
The controversy around swimming world’s photo a few weeks ago, and Darren’s flo coverage of the Mel Zajac meet reminded me of a story. 
