Olympic swimsuits: can they be padded to streamline the shape of the swimmer?

[stuyguy]

There are lots of all-body swimsuits this year in the Olympics. They all seem to be essentially fabric.

I got to thinking: Is it legal to modify a suit with sculpted padding – like the Batman suit that gave Michael Keaton those defined abs and pecs – to streamline the swimmer’s body in the water?

[chukhung]

I’m not sure.

As I understand it, international swimming competitions come under the purview of FINA (“La Federation Internationale de Natation”). On their website, they have this section in the general rules that govern the costumes used by competitors in events sanction by FINA:

GR 6.1 The costumes of all competitors shall be in good moral taste and suitable for the individual sports discipline and not to carry any symbol which may be considered offensive.

GR 6.2 All costumes shall be non‑transparent.

GR 6.3 The referee of a competition has the authority to exclude any competitor whose costume does not comply with this Rule.

GR 6.4 Before any swimsuit of new design, construction or material is used in competition, the manufacturer of such swimsuit must submit the swimsuit to FINA and obtain approval of FINA.

GR 6.5 The manufacturers must ensure that the approved new swimsuit will be available for all competitors.

[The rules go on to discuss how much advertising is permitted.]

Basically, it looks like as long as the padding isn’t in bad moral taste you should be good to go. A Speedo with a big, honkin’ codpiece might not be legal, but there doesn’t seem to be anything specific that outlaws padding per se.

On the other hand, rule GR 6.4 seems to give a pretty big loophole. If the manufacturer of the Batman swimsuit can’t get FINA approval, it won’t be used in competition.

[Gest]

Importantly, if the whizzkids at the local polytechnic come up with some futuristic new design to support their national team, they have to let everybody else use it. I wonder how much wiggle room FINA gives manufacturers on pricing. If they can charge what they like then it might be an effective loophole around GR 6.5.