Aussie whingeing the biggest disgrace in swimsuit row

Tom says:

08:37am | 01/08/09

I think your comparison to Tour de France riders among others is somewhat irrelevant. A bike is a critical part of cycling; whereas a suit is not a critical part of swimming. And also, bikes are limited to 6.8kg, when it is very easy to find an off the shelf bike much lighter than that, partly for safety reasons and partly because it means every bike in the field will be near as makes no difference 6.8kg, hence minimising the differences between riders based upon their bikes.

Essentially, swimming should be about the athlete moving through the water as quickly as possible, and nothing else, whereas cycling (and other sports - e.g. F1, anything with a bat/racquet) are about utilising a piece of equipment for an end.

rob says:

12:51pm | 01/08/09

Well put Tom. 

Anthony, I’d love to hear your take on the Swiss potentially using an engine in the upcoming Americas cup and their agreement with ISAF to not declare their modified racing rules to the challenger (Americans) right up until the event so the challenger is not able to maximise their boats design to suit the rules.  I guess you’d claim the Americans have no right to complain. 

Sorry, that’s all probably way over your head.  My point is that we are not alone when it comes to whinging about piss poor decisions by a sports authority.

RT says:

08:21pm | 01/08/09

Many sports long ago stopped being about athleticism and became big business based on TV entertainment. That’s when the rot set in and we viewers are all complicit.

Steve says:

07:43pm | 02/08/09

Finally, someone has come out and said it like it is.  There’s no doubt that were Australia the country winning all the medals and breaking the world records, they wouldn’t be bleating and whingeing.  As with the cricket, when the contentious decisions are in the favour of Australia, the common cry is they even themselves out but when they go against them, the bleating and whingeing comes to the fore.  Surely it’s as simple as drawing a line before the suits and after them as far as suits are concerned.  The fact that some countries can’t afford the suits wouldn’t appear to hold water as I’m sure if the swimmer showed the required ability money would be found for the suit.

Jonathan says:

10:02pm | 02/08/09

Swim naked.  Problem solved.

This is the biggest whinge about whinging I’ve ever read.

Charlie says:

04:27pm | 03/08/09

Anthony of course works for a sports magazine which relies heavily on the advertising of companies such as Speedo to turn a profit, so you can’t really expect him to be too critical of the “benefits” new technology brings to swimming.

Ant Sharwood says:

05:21pm | 03/08/09

Charlie, thanks for your comment. When Penbo asked for reader feedback recently, one of the things Punch readers said they wanted more of was responses from writers. So here’s mine. The notion that I am beholden to any current or would-be advertiser in Alpha magazine is plain wrong. I write willingly and enthusiastically for The Punch in my own extremely limited spare time and completely independently of my role at Alpha. In almost every case (and certainly this one), the content I generate for this site is not replicated on the Alpha website or anywhere else. Charlie, I wrote this piece because I honestly believe the suit backlash has been strongly tinged with jealousy here in Australia, among both the sporting fraternity and general public. If you’re looking for a smoking gun, well, there isn’t even a gun. As I say, though, thanks again for taking the time to comment.

Morgan says:

08:29pm | 03/08/09

Who gives a flying frag about swimming, cricket, or every other bloody sport on TV. If you haven’t got the stones to get your slack arse off the lounge chair and actually do it then you’ve got nothing about which to complain.
Anthony is right though…. Aussies can even beat the Poms when it comes to whinging.  This country really has become the 52nd state of the union (Canada is the 51st