One of the world's top swimming officials, former AIS head coach Pierre Lafontaine, has called for a moratorium on new swimsuit technology in the wake of a worldwide assault on the record books.
The extraordinary run continued at the Australian Olympic team trials in Sydney last night when Eamon Sullivan broke his own 50m freestyle world record in a time of 21.28sec.
After the controversial new Speedo LZR Racer suit helped two world records tumble at the trials on Thursday, chief executive and head coach of Swimming Canada Lafontaine told The Canberra Times the sport's governing body FINA needed to ensure technology was introduced fairly.
Lafontaine, who helped design the AIS pool where the suit was tested in secret last year, said FINA should ban the release of new swimsuit technology for at least six months before Olympic competition to give all nations time to evaluate and select suits.
"There's no ruling now, but if you look at different sports like kayaking or rowing, they have rules that you can't bring in different boats within a year [of the Olympics]," Lafontaine said yesterday.
"I think it would put everyone on the same playing field. Right now there are no rules and you do what you need to do. Having a rule whether it's six months, nine months, a year, it would help.
"Technology is good for sport but it needs to be introduced fairly."
Lafontaine, who coached at the AIS from 2002-2004, has imposed a ban on the Speedo suits at the coming Canadian team trials, fearing the small number of athletes with access to them would have an unfair advantage.
"These suits are not available at this point in time in North America. If we only had say 20 suits available, I didn't feel it would be appropriate for our meet. We've said everyone will swim under the same conditions at the trials, then we'll go from there."
Since the Speedo suit was launched in February, 17 world records have been broken. Only one record-breaking swimmer, Italian Federica Pellegrini, wasn't wearing the LZR suit.
According to Speedo, the water-repellent fabric used in the suit reduces drag by 5 per cent, while the tight compression of the swimmers' bodies has a streamlining effect.
While Australia's record breakers are delighted with their results, the number of records broken in the last six weeks has raised concerns around the world about whether the Speedo suits amount to "techno doping".
French swimming officials have called for a debate over the ethics of such technology, while FINA has agreed to re-evaluate the thickness of the suits amid concerns they aid buoyancy.
Former Olympic swimming coach Laurie Lawrence said this week the suits had tipped the competitive scales.
New Australian star Stephanie Rice said this week "it is amazing what the suit can do to people" after breaking the 200m individual medley world record, but not every Aussie athlete has been satisfied.
Jessicah Schipper complained that her suit partly filled with water in the 200m butterfly final in Sydney this week, ruining her chances of breaking the world record.
Speedo has responded to criticisms over the selected rollout of the suit by saying nations and swimmers who helped in development of it were entitled to first-use.
The suit was developed and trialled with the help of organisations including US space agency NASA, the AIS in Canberra and the University of Otago.
Speedo said problems such as the one Schipper experienced would be remedied and all swimmers at the Games would have access to a suit if they chose, as per FINA requirements. Lafontaine was confident there would be a fair contest in Beijing, providing everyone had enough time to prepare in the suits.
"I think the way it's going we need to have a ruling on technology if the quality of the suits are coming on like this.
"What FINA is dealing with now is a world it hadn't encountered before. All of a sudden there's new technology and it's now a matter for them to reassess where they are and how to deal with the technology."
Canadian swimmers selected for Beijing will be fitted for the Speedo suits the day after their trials, which begin on Tuesday.
Lafontaine said while the suits were attracting mass attention, leading swimming nations had long sought a technological edge over their rivals.
"I was part of the design of the new pool at the AIS and there's no one [else] in the world who has a pool that good, so should there be a ruling on the quality of the equipment you use for training?" Lafontaine said.
"The world is not fair and some people will work harder at trying to win. You can't rule on everything."