FINA urged to act on latest supersuits

Eamon Sullivan has implored FINA to crack down on the latest hi-tech swimsuits
following fears they could turn this year's Rome world titles into a farce.
Sullivan's pleas came after his 50m and 100m freestyle world records were torpedoed
by hulking Frenchmen Fred Bousquet and Alain Bernard in Montpelier over the past
four days.
Olympic champion Bernard's erasing of Sullivan's two-lap mark in a new Arena suit
raised eyebrows but it was Bousquet's obliteration of the one-lap record in a Jaked
suit that has the swimming world in a spin.
Bousquet (20.94 seconds) lowered Sullivan's mark by more than a third of a second -
a mind-blowing improvement from a swimmer who had a reported best performance in
2008 of 21.53 in a Speedo LZR Racer.
There are deep concerns that unless FINA pull manufacturers into line the July
26-August 2 world championships will be decided as much by technology as by swimming
talent.
Sullivan was one of the swimmers that turned the record books on their head last
year in the super-charged LZR Racer but the latest supersuits appear to have even
greater performance-enhancing powers.
The suit wars have led to the atmosphere on the pool deck at the French national
titles becoming poisonous with even Bernard's coach Denis Auguin lamenting the
situation.
"I read that (Frenchman) Amaury Leveaux had a suit psychosis panic attack with all
the suits before the 100 final with all of these guys wearing all these suits ... it
shouldn't be that," Sullivan told AAP.
"Fair enough people get nervous but it should not be because of what someone is
wearing.
"I think it is pretty ridiculous that it has got to this point."
FINA is currently undergoing independent testing on suits such as the new Arena and
Jaked outfits in time for July's world titles in Italy.
They intend to rule out suits that offer extra buoyancy with more stringent
regulations coming into place for competition next year.
The governing body must approve the new suits for the world records of Bernard and
Bousquet to stand.
Swimming times the year after an Olympics are normally considerably slower before
the normal build-up of performances in time for the quadrennial extravaganza.
Sullivan hoped that FINA clears up the mess when it announces its list of approved
suits, tipped to be in mid-May.
"FINA is hopefully going to finally give a ruling on the thickness of suits, the
materials to be used and the buoyancy and from what I have heard so far, the suits
have not been approved by FINA," he said.
"Hopefully everyone can be on a level playing field."
Sullivan said if the likes of the new Jaked and Arena suits were approved he would
expect Speedo to create a new suit in time for Rome.
The likes of Sullivan and Libby Trickett are sponsored by Speedo while Australian
teammates Cate Campbell and Jess Schipper have linked with Adidas.
Meanwhile triple Olympic gold medallist Stephanie Rice is wisely taking her time
working out what suit to wear in Rome.
"She is trialling different suits and is looking for what is best for her racing and
racing in the future," said David Croft from her management company International
Quarterback.
"At the moment she is not contracted."
FINA executive director Cornel Marculescu believed the sporting body was working its
way through the problem and denied the suits were damaging the sport's credibility.
"There is no doubt the sport has full credibility," he told AAP.