When the FINA General Congress for its Technical Committees meets on July 26th, they will consider more general rules regarding competition, event lineups, and pool formats, in addition to those rules about the technicalities of strokes that the Swimming Technical Committee will look at.
Below, we’ve picked out the rules changes that we think are most interesting, and included whether or not the FINA Bureau has recommended them. Each rule will still have to go before the entire Technical Congress for that sport or area to decide acceptance or not.
Eligibility Rules
- Montenegro has proposed that the length of jurisdiction for an athlete to change his sporting nationality change from 12 months under the new federation prior to representation to 36 months. Not recommended.
Swimwear Rules
- The Technical Swimming Committee has proposed that a rule be inserted that specifically allows a competitor to wear two caps, to clear up any confusion with the “only one suit” rules. The FINA Bureau has recommended this change.
Events Changes
- The Danish Swimming Federation and the Technical Swimming Committee have jointly proposed the addition to the Short Course World Championship schedules to add a 200 free relay, a 200 medley relay, and mixed 200 free and medley relays. They’ve also proposed the addition of mixed 400 medley and free relays at the long course World Championships. The FINA Bureau has recommended both changes.
Underwater Cameras
- The Technical Swimming Committee has recommended, but the FINA Bureau has not recommended, that cameras be used to confirm and/or overrule all stroke infractions made on deck by officials, and that Referees are to review all stroke infraction calls made on deck to confirm or overrule all calls. This is in response to the breaststroking issues, where it’s become clear that a good portion of the community is violating rules, but where it’s nearly impossible to see from on deck. The other proposal to solve the same problem involved allowing dolphin kicks for a full 15 meters. See Cameron van der Burgh, breaststroke World Record holder, talk about the rules changes here.
Diving
- In the same mold as mixed relays, the Technical Diving Committee has proposed, and the Bureau recommended, that mixed 3 meter and 10 meter team events be added. They’ve also proposed that the 5km mixed team event be introduced for the full World Championship schedule.
- Requiring that diving boards have a non-slip surface.
Facilities
- With deference to the advancement in measurement technology, FINA has recommended that all course measurements be extended from centimeters to millimeters. The benefit is more precise measurement; the danger is an increase in the challenge at lower level meets (where records may still be broken) of finding surveyors to measure. This, for example, was an issue when Breeja Larson broke a surprise American Record in the 100 breaststroke at the Phill Hansel Invitational in late 2012.
- The minimum diameter of lane ropes are to be increased from 5 centimeters to 10 centimeters. The maximum would still be 15 centimeters.
Hey guys, here are my ideas that the FINA bureau should implement change in for the Olympics:
1. Add the 50 fly, back, and breast for the men and women
2. Add the 800m free for men and the 1500m free for women
3. Add in the 200m free relay and 200m medley relay for men and women
4. Create the 800m medley for men and women
5. Underwater cameras for ALL races!
6. Expand the program length, i.e. go from lasting 7-8 days to 14-15
Changes for the NCAAs:
1. Add the 800 medley for men and women
2. Add in the 50 fly, back, and breast for men and women
… Read more »
I like the idea of mixed freestyle relays, less the mixed medley relays; how do they determine which gender swims which stroke? BTW, mixed relays have been a big hit in biathlon, and will be contested in Sochi next year.
But if FINA is going to be adding events, how about the LONG OVERDUE addition of the women’s 1,500 and men’s 800 freestyle to the Olympics?
that’s a very good point about the 800 and 1,500 added to the Olympics .
Those are additions that are long overdue at the Olympic level so I agree with that 100%.
We need Cameras on the lanes. Like DL said above you cannot see well from the deck. it is plain as the nose on your face from above when someone is dolphin kicking in breastroke. Keep it at the high level meets though the expense for every meet would not be justified. Yes there would need to be some rules around its use but I think if you go with the standard of giving the benefit of the doubt to the swimmer unless it is caught on film before the final results are posted then you have a good starting point.
Non… Read more »
This might seem like a crazy idea, but I think we should have officials looking at the starts and turns from above, say using the lifeguard chairs or something similar. It is much easier to see dolphin kicks and other such problems from above. At he latest NCAA men’s championships, I found it much easier to see dolphin kicks from the stands. It is sometimes difficult to see these things as you get closer to deck level.
How about dropping some events if such additions are made? I’m a swimming fan but after those changes there is too many relays. One must take care of a dignity of every single event. Swimming society can likely appreciate all of them but that is not the case when it comes to “outsiders”. Eventually this will harm swimming. If you find rules and events confusing or you cannot understand why there is so many relays, you just change the channel and look at elsewhere.
I’m not against proposed changes but additions. Mixed relays would be a good way to improve the depth of competition for medals in relays. Normally there is only a couple of countries able to fight… Read more »
Nothing wrong with a country lobbying for a program that would be in its own best interest. And by coming up with more events where more different countries can place highly, you end up encouraging more second tier swim countries to invest in the sport. Tell your small nation’s Olympic committee or sports funding agency that you had a bronze medal, three finals placings, and four additional semifinals placings at a world championships, and it looks like swimming is a sport worth funding from a sometimes pretty limited pot.
And the more countries encouraged to fund athletes adequately, the stronger and better the sport is.
Adding cameras is not as easy in swimming as it is, say, in baseball. In baseball you review a single event – in swimming you have to review 8 events (lanes), and that would be also subjective. I have a proposal for Olympics: one official per lane on the deck, and one by the monitor watching via underwater camera; DQ must be instant and there is no replay. Camera official and an “underwater” referee must agree on DQ, same system as on the deck. That, or fine officials with balls. I am sure 100% the official saw van der Cheat doing 3 dolphin kicks, just did not have guts to call it. How can you not see 3 dolphin kicks?… Read more »
I assume that FINA is against using cameras since they don’t want to set difficulty of arranging FINA-status competitions too high. Of course this risk is avoidable if it were restricted at the World Championships level. However, over time, I am suspicious that such a limitation remain, and eventually camera installations are demanded everywhere. Too much costs and complexity compared with benefits.
By not supporting underwater camera, FINA bureau is still living in the age of dinosaurs
They are old dinosaurs because of one good reason : they are not swimmers or Pro swimmers and surely not passionate as coaches and swimmers . They beleive they knwo the sport … stilll to be proven . They are just bureau…officers , not specialists of what truly usefull in swimming championships .
What is weird about a mixed relay? I think these would be very exciting at the international level. Lots of strategy about who to put where and excitement during the relay with lead changes.
Personally I’m fine with adding extra events to sc worlds and maybe even lc worlds. Just keep them out of the olympics. The olympics should be a little more special and a little harder to win, so keep the weird events out (mixed relays???)