Alshammar and Modesty Suits. Modesty? Seriously?

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090319/tsp-swim-fina-suits-d7f4ee2.html

If you haven't heard there has been quite a brouhaha (is that how you spell that?) at the Aussie swim champs in regards to the first ever stripping of a world record in relation to the new FINA suit regulations. (see above)

Basically Swede Therese Alshammar was stripped of here new world record for wearing two suits. Ironically for the world of elite swimming these secondary suits were referred to as "modesty suits".

If you're not a swimmer you have to realize just how ridiculous this is. For, example, a woman who would normally wear a 28 would race in at least two sizes smaller suit. And this is before the new high tech speed suits. So, I would say modesty is about the last thing considered when it comes to elite swimming.

And, Alshammar claims it is a sexist rule. Fine, fine, until you consider that men also wear downsized suits, and consider what that is covering on a man compared to a woman!?

But, the main issue here is that the "modesty" suit thing is a bit more dark then "hey, don't look at my boobies". The reality is that elite swimmers have taken to wearing 2-3 in addition to their race suit. Considering that each suit has .03mm of neoprene that adds up to close to 1mm of neoprene. If you have ever been in a wetsuit 1mm is the thickness of the arms. Perhaps this clears up why so many suits were ripping at the Olympics (although the reasons for that run a bit deeper still)

This multi-suit thing is done to increase buoyancy, compression, streamline, and so on. Alshammar is only the first to get penalized for this multi-suit practice.

So, don't feel too bad for Alshammar. All in all it comes down to creating some kind of consistency in the rules.

Personally, I would like to see FINA go back to 80's suits. Stick to Speedos and lycra and take all the neoprene, Teflon, and full body suits out of it.