Rome - And the gold medals go to....polyurethane.
That could well be the rallying call at the 13th FINA swimming world championships, which are being held in Rome from July 17 to August 2.
Sunday saw the first day of the actual swimming competition and at the end of the day, four gold medals had been awarded, six world records had been broken and polyurethane had played a part in all of them.
In layman's terms, the material helps swimmers float as it is like rubber. This, in turn, means that they need less effort to swim and provides them with a huge advantage.
Whereas in previous years most of the discussion at the world championships had been around doping, the talk in Rome was all about swimsuits and polyurethane.
The discussion started shortly before the Beijing Olympics, when Speedo introduced their LZR Racer model, which incorporated polyurethane panels.
Since then, a number of other companies followed suit and introduced part-polyurethane panels, some of which were banned by FINA, while others were allowed.
A new era was reached when the hitherto internationally unknown Italian manufacturer Jaked introduced the all-polyurethane suit the Jaked 01.
Since then, the swim-suit debate has been raging and swimmers have been ditching their old suits and exchanging them for the newer models.
German Paul Biedermann, who on Sunday won the men's 400m freestyle gold medal and broke the world record held by Ian Thorpe, admitted that his suit had much to do with it.
The 22-year-old, who switched to an Arena suit shortly before the championships, said he thought it could have been as much as two seconds.
'I would be lying to say it did not play a part. Having a suit like that is an advantage, there is no denying that,' he said.
Germany's Petra Dallmann, who was a part of the women's silver- medal winning 4x100m freestyle relay team, went even further when she said that their success had been achieved because of their swim suits.
'We have had a few lean lean years, but now that we are allowed to choose our own swimsuits, it has made a huge difference. You can't believe how much this whole issue with our old swimsuits drained us in the past. It cost us so much,' she said.
Last week FINA ruled that from 2010 bodysuits would no longer be permitted and that the material from which suits could be made would be severely restricted.
It was a decision that was welcomed by most swimmers.
American superstar Michael Phelps, who has won an unprecedented 20 gold medals at the world championships, as well as 14 at the Olympics, said that the ban would hopefully bring an end to the ongoing discussion.
'It will be good for the sport. People will talk about swimming again and it will be about the performance of the swimmer and not about his suit. I think that is great news.'
His team-mate Ryan Lochte drew laughter from Phelps when he added that he would: 'Like to swim in a banana hammock again.'
Lochte, who could benefit from Phelps' decision not to start in the 400m individual medley, added that he just wanted to swim. 'I just want to swim my best and if I am told that I have to do that in such and such a swimsuit, I will have no problems.'
For the likes of Phelps, Lochte and Biedermann obtaining or switching to the performance-enhancing high-tech swimsuits is no problem, but for many swimmers they remain out of reach as they are very expensive.
Barbados swimmer Vaughn Forsythe, who finished 108th out of 143 starters in the men's 200m freestyle, said that he had decided to buy a Jaked model with his own funds.
'It cost me 520 dollars and an arm and a leg,' he joked. 'But it levels the playing fields. If everybody uses them it is fairer. I think they should be made available to everybody, though.
'My time has definitely improved, so it has been a worthwhile investment,' he said.
The new swim suit technology has even resulted in some swimmers trying to cheat by wearing more than one. An Olympic and world champion, who asked that his name not be revealed, said that it was not uncommon for swimmers to wear up to three suits.
'I know of guys who wear three suits, hoping that they will achieve better times,' he said.
On the second day of the swimming competition in Rome, two swimmers were disqualified when they were found to be wearing two costumes.
But while FINA seems to have taken the decision that they want to go back to the old days in the hope that it will bring some consistency back to swimming, they are faced with the problem of what to do with records swum in the polyurethane suits.
A FINA meeting on Tuesday in Rome is to look into this matter and the organization's president Julio Maglione told German Press Agency dpa that he is in favour of keeping the records, even if the swimsuits are no longer permitted from next year.
'I believe the FINA decision will be to respect the records, which were achieved under certain conditions, which FINA condoned and which everybody accepted. The records will stand,' the Uruguayan said, adding that it was his personal view.
Until such time as the suits are no longer permitted and FINA has come out with a clear ruling on the issue and the records achieved, swim fans can brace themselves for a flood of new records and controversies with the only real winners being the manufacturers of polyurethane swimsuits.
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