Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Middle East Foam & Polyurethane
  • UTECH Asia/PU China
  • UTECH Europe
  • UTECH Las Americas
Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Coronavirus
  • News
    • Asia
    • Americas
    • Europe
    • M & A
    • Financial results
    • Automotive
    • Japan's lacklustre PU production continued in November 2020
      PU prevents freezing damage to railway tunnels
      Huafon estimates 2020 profit will be up to 40% higher than 2019
      Construction starts for Jason Furniture plants in China and Vietnam
    • World automotive registrations recover in H2 2020
      Mlily to increase US market share following anti-dumping duties
      US footwear imports up 25% in November 2020
      Introducing UTECH Southeast Asia 2022
    • EC approves Kingspan's TeraSteel and Wetterbest purchases
      BTC Europe to distribute BASF’s polyurethane ingredients
      World automotive registrations recover in H2 2020
      Bosnian producer to invest in new PU panel factory
    • PPG buys polyurea company Versaflex
      Recticel buys FoamPartner
      Recticel upgrades Q3 outlook despite raw material tightness
      Covestro broadens PU portfolio with DSM purchase
    • Huafon estimates 2020 profit will be up to 40% higher than 2019
      Mlily to increase US market share following anti-dumping duties
      Stellar Q4 performance saves Wanhua 2020 earnings
      2020 proved fruitful for Vitafoam Nigeria
    • World automotive registrations recover in H2 2020
      Car sales down 25% in Western Europe in 2020
      Patchy coronavirus effects hit global car sales in November
      November continues fall in Western Europe's car sales
  • Data
  • Information
    • Country Overview
    • Market Sector overviews
    • Technical articles
    • Company profiles and strategies
    • China’s PU industry on the path to recovery; plans for technology upgrades
      Chinese cold chains grow bigger
      Flexible foam rises to challenges in the Middle East and Africa
      Life at the cross-roads: what does the GCC offer PU?
    • Europe's flexible foam makers face rising prices as outages hit markets
      Western European car registrations rebound slowed in September
      Western European car registrations regained some ground in August
      Western European Car registrations rebound continued in July
    • Take out the VOC with hybrid release agents
      Batteries give pultrusions power
      Seeing a way through VOC and FOG
      Aromatic polyols for simpler rigid PU formulations
    • Hennecke and Frimo: an automotive partnership
      Pushing ahead: AutoRIM drives KM’s UK growth
      BASF opens it first ‘Creation Center’ in Mumbai with a PU twist
      Persistence pays off for CTM
  • Events
    • Exhibitions
    • Conferences
    • Webinars / Livestreams
    • Become a Speaker
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Issues
  • Subscribe
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
August 03, 2009 12:00 AM

Fina will ban PU swimsuits from 1 Jan 2010

Utech Staff
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    By Liz White, editor

    Rome - Polyurethane swimsuits will be banned from competitive swimming by the world federation Fina from 1 Jan next year, Fina's technical committee announced on 2 Aug. The world of swimming had predicted that the ban would take longer to put into effect, but Fina's announcement from its world championship meeting in Rome has set this new schedule and also clarified a previous statement about materials.

    In the statement from Rome, where swimmers set 43 new world records, the association gave further details on the textiles and materials which will be permitted after 1 Jan 2010. Any surface treatment that closes the open-mesh structure of the fabric will be banned and Fina also ruled that the material should be soft, flexible, regular and flat.

    Fina had already said the textile should consist of natural and/or synthetic, individual and non-consolidated yarns made into a fabric by weaving, knitting, and/or braiding. Now it has added that the any surface treatment of the fabric by coating, printing or impregnation should "not close the original open-mesh structure of the base textile fabric."

    Requirements of thickness, permeability and flexibility are crucial, the statement noted, adding that the material must be flexible and soft-folding, as well as regular and flat, "with no outstanding shapes or structures, such as scales," Fina said.

    The federation will allow a combination of different materials, as long as they conform to the textile definition, and and all other criteria -- notably thickness and permeability. But such a combination of materials must be completely attached/bound/stuck together except where required to protect sensitive parts - the so-called "privacy layers."

    And Fina is not taking any chances: it is banning systems providing external stimulation, such as pain reduction, chemical/medical substance release, electro-stimulation.

    Fina pointed out that its 19 June 2009 list of approved swimsuits is valid until 31 Dec 2009, and that future swimwear approval will be done at least 12 months before the next FINA World Championships (50m) or Olympic Games.

    Manufacturers will have to make those models available at least six months before the next Fina World Championships or Olympic Games.

    The ruling by Fina follows an 18-month period during which suits made with polyurethane panels, and then all-polyurethane-coated suits came to the fore. These suits make enough of a difference in streamlining the body and aiding buoyancy to allow world records to fall at every meeting in an unprecedented fashion, caused a furore in sport with arguments raging over technological doping and unfairness.

    Observers thought Fina would ban the all-PU suits this June, but the federation backed down and allowed most of them. This wrong-footed those manufacturers who had assumed the ban would take effect, and enraged others whose suits were banned, despite being almost identical to approved types.

    From Rome, Fina president Dr Julio Maglione also revealed the composition of the commission, led by Prof Jan-Anders Manson (from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, in Lausanne, Switzerland) which will control the swimwear approval process and monitor development of the swimsuit industry based on Fina's rules. Other members are Rafael Escalas - the athletes' representative, Prof David Pendergast (State University of New York - Buffalo), Prof Brian Blanksby (University of Western Australia), and Associate Prof Shigahiro Takahashi (Chukyo University, Japan).

    "

    Recommended for You
    Japan's lacklustre PU production continued in November 2020
    Japan's lacklustre PU production continued in November 2020
    EC approves Kingspan's TeraSteel and Wetterbest purchases
    EC approves Kingspan's TeraSteel and Wetterbest purchases
    PU prevents freezing damage to railway tunnels
    PU prevents freezing damage to railway tunnels
    Latest Issue
    Click HERE for Free Download
    View All Archives
    Get our newsletters

    Breaking news and in-depth coverage of essential topics delivered straight to your inbox.

    Subscribe today

    Register to access our archive of leading information on the polyurethanes industry.

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Youtube

    Follow us on social media for the latest polyurethanes industry news and event updates.

    Logo
    Contact Us

    Office 127,
    61, Willow Walk,
    London
    SE1 5SF
    E-mail us
    +44 (0) 203 287 5979

    Customer Service:
    +1 313 446 0450

    Resources
    • Advertise with Us
    • Media Kit
    • Staff
    • Careers
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • Coronavirus
    • News
      • Asia
      • Americas
      • Europe
      • M & A
      • Financial results
      • Automotive
    • Data
    • Information
      • Country Overview
      • Market Sector overviews
      • Technical articles
      • Company profiles and strategies
    • Events
      • Exhibitions
      • Conferences
      • Webinars / Livestreams
      • Become a Speaker
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
    • Issues
    • Subscribe