THE Brazilian Swimming Federation (CBDA) has announced that it will be prohibiting tech suits for age group swimmers.
The announcement is just one in a recent wave of decisions in this regard, with organizations such as Southern California Swimming in the U.S. and Swimming Victoria in Australia revising rules for young swimmers wearing tech suits.
According to CBDA, high-performance suits (fastskins) will be prohibited beginning in the 2018 season for young athletes, with an additional age group being added in 2019.
According to Renato Cordani, Director of Sports General of the CBDA, the changes aim to achieve the “democratization of swimming”.
“We believe that this measure could contribute to the democratization of swimming, with a consequent increase in the base, which we hope will bear fruit if not in this, at least in the next Olympic cycles,” Cordani said.
The general thought is that banning tech suits reinforces the approach that training, technique and discipline are responsible for good performance and not just what the swimmer wears. Cost and accessibility of tech suits were also taken into consideration in the decision.
CBDA appears to be the first national swimming federation to impose a ban at the top organizational level.