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October 11, 2009-- Updated October 12, 2009 11:21 AM

The USA Swimming ban on high-tech suits went into effect this month, October 1st to be exact, to much applause by most of the swimming community. This means that in all meets run as official USA-Swimming meets, from age group meets to Olympic Trials, and everything in between.

FINA, swimming’s international governing body, has a similar ban going into effect, but not until January 1, 2010.

The rules, in layman’s terms, state that all suits for males must extend no further than from the knees to the waist and for females from the knees to the shoulders. This excludes leg-skins that go all the way to the ankles, and full-body suits that cover the arms. The suits are also to be made of a woven textile material, as compared to the polyurethane suits that have dominated national and international-level meets in the past year. Suits will also no longer be allowed to have any sort of zippers or fasteners. See our article on the ban for a full discussion of the suits and their effects on swimming.

FINA and USA-Swimming have decided not to roll back any of the 108 World Records that were set in the high-tech suits, despite calls to do so from many high-profile people, including USA-Swimming National Team coach Mark Schubert.

See the official release by USA-Swimming for a technical discussion of the new suit regulations, including some very specific requirements that are really only relevant to suit manufacturers.

Other rulings around the swimming community on high-tech suits:

• Update: FINA's suit ban has now gone into effect. These rulings will apply for all USA-Swimming sanctioned meets as well. See the FINA website for the official list of approved suits.
  
  
• The National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) has banned the high-tech suits, beginning with the 2009-2010 school year. Their ruling states that the suits must permeable to air and water and be made in a way as to not aide in buoyancy, in addition to not containing fasteners, zippers, and being constructed of a woven or textile material. The NFHS also will apply the rules about suits not extending below the knees or above the waist (males) or shoulders (females). The NFHS appears to not be taking any action on records that may have been set with these suits.
  
  
• The NCAA, the governing body for 1281 of the largest colleges and Universities in the United States, has announced that all 3 divisions have approved new suit rules, which gives more specifics than the FINA rules. The NCAA states that in addition to FINA rules, all suits must be no more than .8 millimeters thick and must be permeable to both air and water. The NCAA has followed suit in deciding not to rescind any records, however the heatsheets for the 2010 NCAA championships will include both the current record and the pre-2008-2009 record to provide perspective to the times being swum. The NCAA has been very adamant about the fact that they are not simply following the FINA decision, and that they have decided upon the new rules on their own.
  
  
• (Updated 1/16): At the January FINA Bureau meeting, Masters Suit regulations were brought in line with the rest of the FINA rulings, retroactive to January 1st, 2010.
• The NAIA, the governing body for 291 smaller Colleges and Universities in the United States, generally abdicates to the NCAA rule book for all of its swimming rules and regulations, except where otherwise noted. To this end, they have not published an exception for this case, and as such it is assumed that there rules are identical to those that the NCAA has published. Update: We have received confirmation via e-mail from Dennis Green, the NAIA Swimming & Diving contact, that the NAIA rules will mirror the NCAA.
• (Updated 1/16): At the January FINA Bureau meeting, FINA ruled that Open Water Swimmers could continue to use the 2009 model suits until June 1st, 2010. After that time, they will continue to be allowed to wear suits going from their shoulders to their ankles to protect against sunburns, jellyfish, and other hazards, but the implication was that FINA would make some adjustment to the materials that are allowed to be used at that time.

This article is up to date to the best of our knowledge as of its latest revision (January 16h, 2010), and we will make every attempt to update this article should the rules change. If there is a swimming organization that we have not covered, and you are interested in knowing what their ruling is, or if there is erroneous information in this article, please let us know via our feedback form, and we will do our best to research and contact that organization to find their ruling.