Prior the 2011 Duel in the Pool, we pondered what might happen if the European All-Star team broke a World Record, a situation that we saw happen in the women’s 400 free relay. The answer was pretty clearly stated in the rules: nothing, because swimmers who break relay World Records must be from the same country.
But here’s an interesting quirk of the rules. If the Americans, who were runners-up, had cleared the old World Record (they were close – only .4 away), would their record have counted.
According to the letter of the law, no it wouldn’t have.
FINA rule SW 12.8, as clearly as it outlaws mixed-country World Records, states that “Only the time of the winner of a race may be submitted for a World Record.”
That means that if the Americans had cleared the World Record, and placed 2nd in the race, they wouldn’t have been able to even submit their swim for a World Record. The rule says “the winner of the race,” not the “winner of the race who is eligible for a World Record,” and because the Europeans won (they weren’t exhibition-swimming), the Americans would not have been able to claim a World Record.
Of course, this would have been ridiculous, and FINA would have had to intervene, but with these all-star relays becoming more-and-more popular, FINA may be forced to tweak the language of that rule in the next edition of the rule book.
Excellent point: I was under the impression that had the americans broken the WR, they would be able to uphold it….funny.
Also, this is a somewhat similar situation as the one Libby Tricket went through when she swam faster than the then WR, but didn’t get it, bc it was a mixed relay.
If swimming is to become more popular and interesting, more and more of these kinds of competition should occur, and the rules should change to accomodate them, and thus motivate athletes, sponsors, audience and all other stakeholders.