Suit Stress : Speakers & Interviews

Yes it was unfair and will be again if Speedo has anything to say about it -- and they will try.
Think about it as a business. Isn't it in your best advantage to say an athlete you sponsor and who wears your suit wins? You bet. Wouldn't you do anything to make sure that happens? You bet -- that's business. People are ignoring what Brett said about them scanning "their" athletes and not all athletes and building specialized wearable boats that fit their athletes in a way that gives them a differential center of balance and floatation, better breathing in a tight suit (since all our ribs are in different places), different locations for slipperiness, etc. And even then, according to Brett and many others, Speedo decides who will get those suits differentially. This is not sport. it's not even professional. And mark my words, let them have half a step and it will happen again. There are indications the war isn't close to over.

Look at the ASCA site and see how strongly John has come out against banning the jammers. John was highly instrumental in getting FINA to back down and do what they have done so far to ensure some fairness. And coaches led the charge against "assisted" swimming. But you can cheat in a jammer and it's awful hard to cheat without one. And even those completely against these suits are still calling them "tech" suits. Come on. They aren't new material -- they are boats sewn on swimmers. Neoprene is nothing new. Plastic is noting new. NASA will test anything for the fee. What made the Speedo suit hard to make were the FINA rules about floatation. But things don't have to provide an advantage and FINA and others in political positions to make a difference don't all know that.
Speedo knows something about making a differentially assisting suit, but come on, they are a clothing company. Imagine what really smart people can and started to do. That, as much as anything is what won a few of these battles. For the time being, the coaches and other people who want fairness have made progress. But we'd better keep a sharp eye out. If we really meant this to go away the records set using plastic and neoprene, etc., would all have asterisks so those who swam in suits would keep their records. Half a second per 50 is a huge advantage that keeps real heros from setting records. The first woman really under 4:00 will be awesome, but someone will just say -- oh it's been done. Bull. No one in a swim suit has beat Janet and she has a right to be upset. So do a lot of people in the past. But it's the future no one seems to care about. You can be eight seconds faster in the 400 than anyone and still not set a record!
This interview proves that Speedo needs to fire someone. In fact the company needs to fire everyone who thinks competitive swimming should be relegated to unfair advantage. It shouldn't take FINA to make these rules, though they too acted irresponsibly. Speedo can dominate on the basis of products that fit well and look great at great prices. They are an outstanding clothing company. Finis and our company and others are technical companies and we make people swim faster just as coaches do. Speedo has its job and we have ours. And great coaches like Brett has his. He has a right to be upset when the company many people trust to support our sport in pursuit of economic gain crosses the line. I would love to see a promise from Speedo that they will never cross it again. They can and should regain our trust -- and in their corporate board room some smart character-centered leader should convince them that trust is a lot cheaper than sponsorships.
There will always be swimmers who will feel fine about winning even if they felt some suit company gave them a competitive advantage. I hope never to coach those swimmers. I still love what coach Bob Steele once said at an ASCA Convention when I was a young coach. he said, I love coaching swimming because a 21.1 is a 21.1 and no amount of B.S. can make it a 19.9. Well, for a time, he was wrong about that and B.S. ruled the day. Let's make sure it never happens again. Because, mark my words a simple plastic spray on a set of jammers can make the difference between Caesar and someone else when all that should be the difference is preparation, talent, and character. And that's the real definition of competitive swimming.

He should stop complaining. Blah blah blah nobody cares about Brazil. Let's get real, your guy won Gold. Talk about his talent as an athlete and not your issues with the world.

Brett Hawke is the man. I wish i could have swam for him. Cesar and Fred are beasts because of him and their talent

...in my comment below I should probably say that arguments about fairness aren't irrelevant b/c there are issues like availability etc. But really there isn't anything you can accomplish by pointing fingers at coaches and people for trying to get the best suit, especially b/c no one even knows what the "best suit" is. How do you make conclusions like that? One suit can be the best for that person and bad for another person. At the end of the day you still need to train and be talented, and it just so happens Brett coaches a bunch of the most talented (and they work hard) swimmers on the planet.

that is the end of my rant

Every Brett Hawke video gets so many comments its just silly ... I'm sorry but all I smell in most of these comments is jealousy. Brett summed up the suit situation perfectly and its not as though he has had it easy either as he makes obvious in this story. Not trying to get your swimmers the best suits or atleast competitive suits just so you can make some sort of statement would be foolish and irresponsible. All this talk about Fred breaking 21 in "any suit" is ed. Brett was clearly trying to make a point about Fred's training and preparedness to swim fast. Your a lunatic if you say crap like "then he should just wear a speedo". I mean I agree it would be nice to go back to when everyone just wore briefs and pretend that none of these suits had ever come out, but that is not obviously not an option. FINA could never make everyone wear the exact same suit (at the World Championships for instance) so as I would see it we all have no choice to atleast give some credit were credit is due. And Brett's swimmers like Fred deserve credit. Arguments about fairness are simply irrelevant until FINA grows some balls, does there research and makes some very definitive decisions about suit technology and stops being indecisive (though I recognize it is a very complicated issue). Until then you should admire Brett for trying his hardest to get his swimmers suits that they can be confident swimming in. What else is he really supposed to do?

every win by the auburn men was done in a jaked...

Yeah, that certainly worked in the 1980s (thumbs down). Boycotting or not swimming in a suit at a meet will not do enough good. If the entire finals heat of the 50FR at WCs wore the same brief, that would be a statement. Good luck coordinating that one.

Until then, the race will continue and the suits will be worn..
Geez, January 2010 can't come fast enough.

Agreed Utopia, picking on one school for these things is just silly. Especially considering the average athlete and their attendance, grades and athletic ability/commitment compared to the common Pookapoo at State U.

Make it STOP ,,,please make it stop !! I'm a respectable hard working USA club coach ...PLEASE MAKE IT STOP. I am so tired of spending my days (and nights) on the phone and w/emails etc trying to find out what we can wear when and then trying to find out how to get the latest & best. Can we get a discount, can we get free suits, what if we buy them, will they be returnable if not approved, how long will they last, what size does each swimmer need/want/fit best. I have REALLY GOOD swimmers on my club team ...if it were a 100% level playing field I think we could put 2 maybe 3 swimmers on the WCTeam, but I have no idea what to expect in Indy. What other swimmers will get their hands on that we cant. US Swimming's "availability" bit is a joke. So I'm spending hours worrying about suits instead of teaching and coaching and getting SWIMMERS (instead of suits) ready to race in Indy.

PLEASE .....MAKE IT STOP.

This is what makes Brett Hawke the respectable coach he is. He will go through extreme measures to help his athletes achieve what they want. Good job Brett, you are truly one heck of a coach.

why can't they just have the swimmers wear normal briefs? this whole suit war controversy is taking away from the sport of swimming itself. it must feel great breaking 20+ year old records wearing shark skins and caps when before swimmers like mark spitz could do it wearing a diaper, no goggles, and having twice the hair as my dad. its kind of ridiculous. just my opinion, don't hate.

yes, he did it again, he had the suit on. "I knew before we left for France that Fred was capable of breaking 21 seconds, regardless of the suit he chose to wear." - Brett Hawke. No brainer.

fred bousquet 21.1. oops he did it again!

Really my friend, we know you are passionate. But right now you are barking like a dog. I'd let you out of the yard if I could, but I'm afraid you would bite me.

....Waiting for the next bark

Not so Look. "I knew before we left for France that Fred was capable of breaking 21 seconds, regardless of the suit he chose to wear." - Brett Hawke. Regardless of what suit he chose to wear... ok, look, look forward to seeing him and Cesar in paper briefs in Rome. Not gonna happen, huh? Guess why

just because all you haters put on a tech suit and still swim slow doesn't give you the right to bash world class athletes on their accomplishments

All things aside:

Great coach, great team

The point is not "that one must have courage"

The point is that everyone should be equally equipted.
Why would Brett send his team into a meet with inferior equiptment, when he knows all along what the rules will be???? That's just dumb. Nobody needs that because we all KNOW the suits are faster. That's not a debatable point. Brett certainly doesn't debate that the suits are faster!

Make a stand Brett and get your kids to swim in briefs and make the point and help rid the sport of something that is killing achievements gained through hard work and talent. Cesar had to get his hands on a suit, understandable, but then how does "I knew Fred would go sub-21" stack up with that, unless you forgot to add the words "in a Jaked"

If FINA stopped changing the regulations there would pretty much be a suit cap. As in no suit can be better than an X limit. Then there wouldn't be any unfair advantages.

It's too late to get rid of the suits now. There out of the bag and the majority of swimmers have bought them.

yea, swimming is NOT about the suit! its about the skill! and all these new suits like blueseventy are making the sport about how much time the suit can make you drop! not right and not fair.

I think that the suits are ruining the sport. I wish we all the suits were banned that were just made legal again.

Well Brett, if you hate the suits so much why don't you get together with all ur buddies from Stanford, and Texas, and Florida, and boycott them, history has proved that it is the best way to get things done...

knowing his history as a psych major and what he had mentioned in the "big meet mentality" interview..... does anyone else find some of the stories in "hawke talk" a little hard to swallow? Maybe I am just being too skeptical

In reference to "How to can you go the Olympics with only one suit?" ......

everybody except for the big names were waiting 3 months. The 3 hours Brett is refering to was the LAST 3 HOURS!

Brett is great but hearing him winge on about suits like that i had to que for 3 hours and only one suit. Well i had to buy my one suit and wait 3 months for it yeah im not olympic champion these athletes and coaches have worked hard but should remember others arent even as lucky as them

Way to go Brett!! I wish I had a coach like you, you do everything you possibly can to help your swimmers. You are cool.

How do you go to the OLYMPICS hoping they have a suit for when you get there? You knew cesar isn't sponsored so you don't make any other arrangments except for hoping they have when you get to CHINA?

My point exactly.

does anyone know the name of the song at the beginning of all the hawke talks?

AU girls didn't have Jaked, just the men. They didn't perform well all year long not just that one incident. It's not the suits that do the swimming or, in the case of the AU men, the winning. Great interview, its good to hear constructive talk not just bashing.

He knows what he is doing. I can see quite a few more Auburn NCAA victories in the years to come.

instant legend

Garrett, mods and everybody working back office, did I tell you how much I love your website?

What happen to the AU girls, did they not have the Jaked? Oh wait...they did but I guess they didn't fit properly or something because they didn't win!

eddie accepted the loss as classy as you can be. the only thing he has said in any interviews is that all he wants is an even playing field. which is what everyone shoult want. hes never said auburn cheated or stole anything and i would bet he is definately not on floswimming blogging about auburn and suits hah

Wow! I don't know if I've ever seen so many people whine and complain so much about "its not fair" in my life. Going into NCAA's, most of the coaches were all convinced that LZR's were the best and fastest suit. A few may have thought B70.

Because they rested on those laurels, it is Auburn's fault for doing a little more research and finding a better product? Oh wait, Auburn can't do research, they "are one of the worst educational institutions in the country!" Oh, that must be quite the thorn in your side: to have a group of redneck morons outsmart you and find something better than what you have is just wrong. Isn't it? They stole the championship. WAH WAH WAH.
I sincerely hope none of you complaining about swim suits and someone else winning has to go through a real challenge in life. You'll never make it.

go away, suitwars, no one gives a flying sh*t about your annoying advertising

That is fine that people want to say negative things but they need to take ownership of what they say because then comments are being thrown around without much thought and negativity spreads like wild fire.

What were the excuses in 1997?? or 1999?? Or 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007??

I hope Eddie isn't behind all this whining and crying. I've always had respect for him and his program. I might have to re-evaluate that after reading all the wailing and moaning on these forums.

At the Olympic trials in 2008 in Omaha, I had the exact same thing happen to my athletes (our team wasn't sponsored by Speedo)!!! I had to wait in a line for an hour and a half to be told that Speedo didn't have the correct sizes/styles for my swimmers.

I went ballistic as well and gave Stu a piece of my mind. Speedo was outspoken in the media prior to the meet stating that ALL SWIMMERS would have access to the LZR (and were willing to pay any price for them), when this was FAR from the case.

Will Smith, meet the man, speak to him and tell me that.

Who let all those CollegeSwimming.com rif-raf on this site. Keep your negative hateful comments to yourself.
Garrett, I think it is about time you do away with the anonymous coward and have people be members to speak. This lack of accountability is getting rediculous.

I think FINA is up the swimming community.

it was okey when they banned blue70 and JAked, i was like lets get back to "only" Lazers and be happy, no one will ever talk about the suits again, end story, done! But now they approved it all again.. that's a mess.
It's not a swimmer or University/Club or Country problem this is only FINA problem. 1 month left ahead to the World Championships what we suppose to wear? of course the best technology possible that fits us better.
I'm sorry folks I am going with my Jaked to the World Championships and i'm sad for that. I can't see a way that all swimmers agree to swim in briefs that's not going to happen.
And what Brett just said it's totally true no one in the world knew about it but Brazilians swimmers friend of Cesar. And It's not about money itself cause Cesar definitely would have cash to buy one at that time.
And some people think that they are the poor ones that they can not buy a Jaked or something because they don't live in Europe and Jaked is not for sale in US, that's BS.

a few of the guys on my team looked at jaked suits for our conference meet in feb, but ended up going for B70s. enough people knew about the suits, and nothing stopped schools from buying them. auburn deserved the win, congrats to them

Seems like all this Auburn bashing is a huge case of ENVY.

The Auburn guys have such huge jibblies, they needed impermeable suits.
Seriously, keep your collective eyes on the ball. Geez.

who wore lazers that went "slow" on the auburn team, mr. a.c.? i bet there were some swims that you considered "fast" but assumed they were done in jakeds. please cite some examples when making absurd comments.

AUBURN WON THE MEET BEFORE IT STARTED, SCORE THE PSYCH SHEET

I am sick of hearing people say that AU didn't deserve to win, or swam so fast because of a suit. Those guys were fired up. They worked their tails off and they were swimming not only for themselves but for Coach Quick. Brett told a story about his phone call to Coach Quick's daughter at a recent convention. He said that he told her that the Team's success was the only joy that Coach was having at that point in his treatment. Honestly, after Brett told the the Team that, wouldn't everyone agree that those men won that meet for their coach?

I cannot believe all of the cynicism revolving around this team and Brett Hawke. He has clearly proven himself as a coach and I think that we should all respect all the work that he has done. Not to mention the fact that he is opening his program up to the world through all of his work with Floswimming. He is coaching his athletes and has there best interests at heart. I think we all have some things to learn from him!

one ring yumyum two rings yumyum three rings yumyum four rings yumyum five rings yumyum six rings yumyum seven rings yumyum eight rings yumyum

It looks like FINA is starting to hear what the bloggers and commenters are saying. Please click the link and vote in the most important poll in swimming history (on the right side of the page.) The poll is open until january 1st 2010. Let FINA hear how you really feel about suits!!

http://swimviking.blogspot.com/

yeah, it's really insincere for him to talk about availability being the issue when he clearly didn't care that the jakeds weren't "available" (in terms of well-established and known) to all the other teams at NCs. no doubt auburn has great talent and coaching, and they don't outright cheat, but they are very content in the gray area

HLA all the way!

We all accepted long ago that whoever had the most points at the end of the meet also won the meet. 2009: AU!

True, but I think we all long ago accepted that diving is a part of our championships and we all had time to prepare for it. Especially with the facilities at Avery.

great vid but can we get rid of the hawk at the beginning? my volume is always too high and it scares the piss out of me everytime

Let's modify that. Stanford actually won the swim meet. Texas out-scored them in diving, and Auburn out-suited them.

Brett's right on. Every athlete should be able to get the suit they think is best for them without ridicule. What are you wearing?

http://www.suitwars.com

Somebody get Texass a tissue please.

Bring it on! Just like you did the last 10 years. HAHAHAHAHAHA

Stealing? Really? You don't think those boys won it for Richard and sheer determination? And other teams knew about the suits, they just didn't get them.

Most rediculous thing I've read on this board in quite a while.

So he doesn't feel bad about stealing an NCAA title by wearing suits noone else had that were far and away better than every other suit?

More Craig Lord hanging chad quotes:

"SwimNews is reliably informed that several models of suits on FINA's approved suits list are designed to interact with the central nervous system and reduce pain. At this stage we cannot say which models of suits are involved. We can say that they did get past all of that "science"."
Who Craig? What suits? Why the secrecy if you are so sure! This is not journalism, it's rumor.

Brett is absolutely the best coach out there. Personally, he is against the tech suits. But he did not let his personal feeling getting in the way for his coaching duty.

P.S.

I have a similar but not nearly as serious story. We had the darndest time getting either Lzrs or B70's last spring for our Sr. Sectional meet. I told our Team BOD president that there was no way in hell we could compete at the top level with all the other swimmers wearing fast suits and that we needed to get a handful for the team to rent out to the swimmers we had participating at the meet. We had orders in at several vendors and the story was the same--back ordered for months.
Luckily, our girls' B70 orders came in two days before the meet started. The boys' orders came a day after the meet started.
The lucky event occurred when I woke up on the first morning of the meet after having a dream that I should go to the local swim shop in Federal Way. I walked in and asked "You don't happen to have any B70's?" The woman at the desk looked at me and said "We have one left--a men's 28." Amazingly I pulled off a huge coup for our team and threw down $400 on the spot.
Our swimmers swam great at the meet. We had 30+ best times, 17 team records, and multiple finalists. I don't believe that the suits were the only reason for the fast swims, however, worrying about this issue is a huge drain on the athlete. Even thinking you are at a disadvantage creates a disadvantage.

Hawkie,
Can you get me a Jaked please?
Thanks

I think Brett has nailed the problem on the head. If these suits are going to be allowed, access must be the solution. Its kind of like 40 years ago and racing goggles. They were hard to come by and clearly (no pun) created an advantage for the swimmer who could see what the hell they were doing while their face was underwater.

The problem is not necessarily the suits, but the rules governing how and when the suits are approved, and whether the athletes at all appropriate levels have the same access to the suits.
Awesome story though.
D

I wish Brett was my coach

He's got the perfect attitude for a coach. Whether or not he agrees with the rulings on the suits, he's going to do whatever possible within the current framework to make sure his athletes have the BEST possible chance to swim fast.

He's got the resources at Auburn, so why not?

it would never happen, hence why everyone wants these new suits

Well said Brett

Im just waiting for someone to step up to the block in an old school speedo at Worlds and handle business.

Garrett, the best one yet! Now we actually know his true feelings on the suit issue. It sounds to me like his stance is to protect his athletes. What a great coach.

wow. i didn't realize there was such an issue of availability. thanks for the perspective.

Amen Brett, I can see why there is so much frustration towards these suits. I am just a club coach and cannot stand seeing these things at the BB level helping kids break the 1:00 barrier SCY.

Nico, when in this interview, do the words jaked and criticize come across. If you are referencing another article, please site.
If you hear him, he is very much against the suit. However, he is a part of the arms race because everyone is looking for the best suit. The doors were blown wide open when Fina was taken off guard thinking this was not going to be as big a problem as it is. As he stated, he is going to do what he can to keep his athletes competitive.
I don't think there is anyone who is truly happy with this situation, more of a "i told you so" or relieved when Fina actually regulates what is going on in its sports.

http://www.usaswimming.org/usasweb/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?TabId=1205&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en&ItemId=2500&mid=4005

First step toward equality????

oups sorry I made a little mistakes cause I meant " the question ISN't that we are destroying so many WR but that new suits are helping buoyancy ..."

is he against the suits and a final ban on them or is he agreeing on letting the suits in the pool ??? cause he said " it was the beginning of the end" then he said "I'm gonna get the best suit for my athletes" ...

then again the question about suits is that we are destroying so many world records !! to me and many the quetion with jaked AND LZR suit is that they help buoyancy therefore reducing the need of technique to stay on top of the water !!
I respect Brett Hawke as a coach and former athlete and I'm sorry for cesar but why is he criticizing people criticizing Jaked ????? he he really think that suit is "the beginning of the end" he should be happy that people voices their anger against FINA !