Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. During our time on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee, we understood that the FINA referees made their decisions partly based on the actions and intentions of the swimmers. That is, if a swimmer intentionally impeded another swimmer, or intentionally pulled on their leg, or intentionally swam
Physicality, unintentional or not, is part of open water swimming. Physical contact is due primarily to too many swimmers trying to swim in the same location at the same time, especially at the start, around turn buoys, at feeding stations, and towards the finish. Bumping, impeding, scratching, pulling, veering into, tapping or touching, slapping,
A red card (or red flag) given in an open water swimming competition is a red-colored penalty card (or flag) that indicates the immediate disqualification (DQ) of an athlete due to unsportsmanlike conduct or a serious infraction of the rules during an open water race. If an open water swimmer has been called for one yellow card (or yellow flag) during the
Scenario: It is a close and competitive race where two athletes are racing into the feeding station. They are swimming side-by-side and their two feeders are also standing side-by-side on the feeding station. Situation: The outside swimmer veers the inside person against the feeding station. The inside swimmer puts out his hand out to protect himself.
As the sport of open water swimming grows, the need for competent, experienced and objective rules also grows exponentially. At a recent 10 km competition, a competitor was disqualified and told to leave the field of play (i.e., water). Her goggles had snapped and she was disqualified for swimming without goggles. She was close to the feeding station and
In the first leg of the 2013 FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup this weekend in Santos, Brazil, the heavy favorite was double Olympic medalist Thomas Lurz of Germany. Lurz remains at his peak even in his mid-30s. But it was Romain Beraud of France who came out ahead. And Lurz was not even in the top 3 as Italy's Federico Vanelli and Matteo Furlan joined
Officiating the sport of water polo and basketball is tough. Whistles are blown throughout the game. Many times, the athletes disagree with the calls and occasionally voice their displeasure of the athletes. Whistles are also often blown in the sport of open water swimming, but the marathon swimmers have a hard time voicing their displeasure at the
