Ethics CasesSport

Cases · FINA (now World Aquatics) · 2008–2010

It's All About the Suit: Polyurethane Swimsuits and FINA's 2010 Ban

Between 2008 and 2009 swimsuits using polyurethane panels, and then suits made entirely of it, cut drag and lifted buoyancy. World records fell at a rate the sport had never seen: 25 at the Beijing Olympics and 43 at the 2009 World Championships in Rome. FINA, swimming's governing body, had approved the suits. At its Rome Congress in July 2009 it voted to allow only textile suits with limited coverage from 1 January 2010, after Michael Phelps's coach threatened to pull him from international racing. The records set in the suits were left in place. The case asks how a sport should regulate technology that changes performance, and what to do with results already earned under rules it now regrets.

By Tanner Simkins, editor

Timeline

  1. Athletes wearing Speedo's LZR Racer, whose fabric NASA helped test, break 13 world records.
  2. Beijing Olympics: 25 world records fall in the pool; FINA had approved the LZR before the Games.
  3. Arena and Jaked release suits made entirely of polyurethane.
  4. FINA Congress in Rome votes for textile-only suits with limited coverage.
  5. Paul Biedermann beats Michael Phelps in the 200 m freestyle in world-record time; Phelps's coach threatens a boycott.
  6. FINA Bureau confirms the new rules take effect on 1 January 2010; records stand.
  7. Textile-only rules come into force.

The ethical issues

  • Technology as an equalizer or an enhancer.
  • Whether access to equipment depends on sponsor contracts.
  • Regulating after the fact.
  • Keeping records set under now-banned equipment.
  • Governing bodies' responsibility for equipment approval.

Stakeholders

StakeholderInterests & obligations
SwimmersFair races and recognition for their performances.
Swimmers who set records in suitsKeeping their marks.
Swimmers from earlier erasRecords judged on comparable terms.
Suit manufacturersMarket share and return on research.
FINACredibility, control of equipment rules and the sport's appeal.
National federations and coachesAccess to the fastest equipment.
FansA sport about swimmers, not suits.

The case

Background

Swimwear has always been part of the race. At the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Speedo’s Fastskin suit was worn for 13 of the 15 world records set, according to Swim England [6]. In 2008 Speedo launched the LZR Racer, made of nylon, Lycra and polyurethane. Swim England says the polyurethane increased buoyancy and smoothness and cut drag by up to eight percent [6]. NASA, whose Langley Research Center tested fabrics for the company, reported that the LZR’s material cut skin-friction drag by 24 percent compared with the Fastskin, and that its ultrasonically welded seams reduced drag by a further 6 percent [7]. In March 2008, athletes wearing the suit broke 13 world records [7].

TIME, citing NASA, reported that 94 percent of gold medals and 89 percent of all medals in swimming at the 2008 Beijing Olympics were won by swimmers wearing the suit, and that by August 2009, 93 world records had been broken in it. Some countries claimed an unfair advantage, “even though the FINA, the sport’s governing body, approved the suit for use before the Games began” [8].

Rival manufacturers went further. By 2009 Arena and Jaked had released suits made entirely of polyurethane. Swim England called them “the biggest leap forward in performance in the history of competitive swimsuits” [6].

The rules and governance

FINA approved swimsuits through a list issued by its Executive. Before Rome, there was no rule limiting suits to textile fabric. The question for the sport was whether to keep regulating suit by suit or to set material and coverage standards that would rule out the new suits altogether.

Decision point: Rome, July 2009

The 2009 World Championships in Rome made the problem impossible to ignore. Twenty-nine world records fell in the first five days, more than the 25 set at the whole Beijing Olympics [4]. By the end, 43 world records had been broken [6].

On 24 July 2009, the FINA Congress in Rome passed a USA Swimming proposal, “by an overwhelming margin,” to limit suits to “between the waist and knees for males, not beyond the shoulders or below the knees for females,” made of textile fabric only [1]. “The most important thing is that it’s textile only,” said US national team head coach Mark Schubert. “I think we sent a strong message as to our feeling of what the suit should be” [1]. A British motion moved oversight of the rule to the FINA Bureau, so that it could be adjusted between Congresses [1].

The start date was still open. Days after the vote, Germany’s Paul Biedermann, in an Arena suit, won the 200 m freestyle in 1:42.00, taking 0.96 seconds off Michael Phelps’s world record. Phelps finished second in 1:43.22. Earlier that week Biedermann had taken 0.01 seconds off Ian Thorpe’s 400 m freestyle record [5]. Biedermann denied doping questions, citing more than 20 tests the previous year, and was frank about the suit: “It makes me go faster of course but what do I do? FINA allowed it. It’s not my problem or the problem of Arena, it’s a problem of FINA, they should handle it fast.” He said he was “a little bit sad it’s all about the suit and not any more about the swimmer” [5].

Phelps said he was “beaten by the swimmer,” but added: “It’s not swimming, The headlines are always who is wearing what suit” [5]. His coach, Bob Bowman, said he would recommend that Phelps not race internationally until FINA ended the suit saga. “Bob chooses where I swim,” Phelps said [5]. Australia’s head coach, Alan Thompson, said: “The people with the greatest amount of leverage are the athletes” [5].

Decision point: the start date and the records

On 31 July the FINA Bureau confirmed that the new approval requirements would be enforced from 1 January 2010. The list of suits approved on 19 June 2009 would remain valid until 31 December 2009, and future approvals would be made at least 12 months before a World Championships or Olympics [2][3]. It defined textile as “natural and/or synthetic, individual and non consolidated yarns” woven, knitted or braided, and said surface treatments must not close the fabric’s open mesh [2][3].

FINA’s executive director, Cornel Marculescu, said: “The manufacturers are ready. Now, without doubt, the rules are applying on the first of January 2010.” He said the date followed a survey showing manufacturers had time to comply [4]. On the records: “There is no reason whatsoever to reconsider the records that have been made here at these championships” [4].

Aftermath

The textile rule took effect on 1 January 2010 [2][4]. The records set in approved suits were not removed [4]. The episode left a lasting question about how to compare performances from 2008 and 2009 with those before and after.

The core dilemma

FINA approved suits that changed performance, then decided they had distorted the sport. Should a governing body ban equipment it once approved, and if so, what should happen to the records and medals won with it?

Competing values

  • Innovation vs. the nature of the sport: technology that makes swimmers faster against a sport “about the swimmer” [5].
  • Fair competition vs. fair notice: banning suits quickly against giving manufacturers and athletes time [2][4].
  • Respecting results vs. comparability: keeping records against comparing eras on equal terms [4].
  • Commercial interests vs. governance: manufacturers’ investment against FINA’s control of equipment [6][8].

Strongest arguments

For the ban: when headlines are about suits rather than swimmers, the sport is losing its point [5]. A textile-only standard is clear and enforceable [1][3]. Equipment that depends on brand contracts can give some swimmers an advantage others cannot buy [8].

Against a ban, or for a slower one: FINA approved the suits [8]. Swimmers raced within the rules and should not be blamed. Technology has always shaped sport, from pools to goggles. Banning suits did not remove what they had already achieved.

On the records: keeping them respects athletes who complied with the rules [4]. Removing or marking them would recognize that the conditions were exceptional. Either choice treats some athletes unfairly.

Applying the frameworks

Justice

A justice lens asks whether everyone had fair access to the advantage, and whether athletes from earlier and later eras are treated fairly when records from 2008 and 2009 stand [4][6]. It also asks whether those who approved the suits, rather than those who wore them, should bear the cost of the mistake.

Virtue

Virtue ethics asks what excellence in swimming means. Biedermann’s and Phelps’s comments suggest that both felt the suits obscured it [5]. A virtue lens would ask whether a governing body showed prudence by acting late but decisively, or a lack of it by approving the suits in the first place.

Utilitarian

A consequentialist would weigh the excitement of records against public doubt about what they meant, as well as the cost to manufacturers and the benefit of simple rules. The threat of a Phelps boycott shows how one athlete’s leverage could change the balance of interests [4][5].

Walk it through: the Simple Decision Model

  1. Identify the problem: approved equipment is changing results more than training.
  2. Gather the facts: drag and buoyancy data, record counts and who had access [4][6][7][8].
  3. Identify the stakeholders: swimmers, past record holders, manufacturers, federations, FINA and fans.
  4. Consider the options: keep suits, regulate suit by suit, ban by material standard, and decide on records.
  5. Apply values and frameworks: fairness, the meaning of excellence and practical enforcement.
  6. Decide and review: set a start date, a test standard and a policy on records, then monitor.

What’s settled and what’s contested

Settled: FINA approved the LZR before Beijing, voted for textile-only suits in July 2009, and enforced the rules from 1 January 2010 while leaving records in place [1][2][4][8].

Contested: whether the records deserve full recognition, and where the line between legitimate innovation and equipment doping should be drawn.

Why this case matters

Equipment rules keep returning. Compare Nike Vaporfly and the Super Shoe Rules and Markus Rehm: The Blade Jumper and the Olympic Long Jump.

Key terms

Equalizer vs. enhancer
Whether a technology or adaptation restores a level field (adaptation) or gives an advantage beyond it (augmentation).
Fair play
Integrity put into practice: respecting both the written rules and the spirit of competition.
Rules vs. spirit of the game
Rules are the written minimum; the spirit is the fairness and respect the rules exist to protect. Rules set the floor; spirit sets the ceiling.
Codes and guardrails
Written rules of conduct, backed by real consequences, that turn values into expected behavior. Without enforcement they are decoration.
Commercialization
The process of turning sport into a product and a business enterprise, with profit pressures that can compete with principle.
Integrity
A commitment to honesty and ethical principle in competition and administration, including when nobody is watching.

Definitions from the Ethics Cases glossary.

Discussion questions

  1. Was FINA right to let the 2008-09 records stand?
  2. Is a faster suit different in principle from a faster pool or better training?
  3. Who should carry the blame: swimmers, manufacturers or FINA?
  4. Would an asterisk be fairer than keeping or erasing the records?
  5. Was Bowman's boycott threat legitimate pressure?

Sources

  1. FINA Congress Severely Restricts Suit Coverage, Eliminates Non-Textile Suits; FINA Releases Press Release — Swimming World
  2. FINA Confirms Jan. 1, 2010 as Swimsuit Restriction Implementation Date — Swimming World
  3. PR59 - FINA Bureau Meeting — World Aquatics (FINA)
  4. Swimsuit ban to take effect from January — ABC News (Australia) / AFP
  5. Phelps loses race and record - but it's all about the suit — The Sydney Morning Herald
  6. History of competitive swimwear — Swim England
  7. Space Age Swimsuit Reduces Drag, Breaks Records — NASA Spinoff
  8. U.S. Swimming's Super Suit: The Speedo LZR Racer — TIME