MSC Ops Blog
New rulebook
On December 7th, the MSC board approved a new version of the Swimming Rules portion of the MSC rulebook. The English version of the rules is here:
These rules come into effect January 1st, 2009.
There is only one official rule change which is the switch from a one false start rule to a no false start rule. The no false start rule is the standard rule in international Masters competition and non-Masters competition.
In addition, the wording of several rules has been changed to reduce inconsistent interpretation.
One example that swimmers should be aware of is that merely wearing a watch is now explicitly against the rules. In the past many officials would only DQ a swimmer if they observed that the swimmer was using the watch for pacing purposes, under the new rules any swimmer observed to be wearing a watch will be disqualified.
The wording of the freestyle rules has been changed to clarify that some part of the body has to break the surface at some point in each stroke cycle rather than at all times. In some cases officials disqualified some athletes swimming breaststroke in freestyle events for totally submerging for part of their stroke cycle on the grounds that the rules prohibited the swimmer from totally submerging except for in the maximum 15m distance before surfacing after starts and turns.
The breaststroke rule also has dropped the wording saying that the single dolphin kick needs to be performed whilst wholly submerged. Some swimmers had been disqualified for breaking the surface with the kick or performing the kick while on the surface.
The butterfly rule has also been modified to clarify that it is not legal to simply kick without an arm action.
When swimming two to a lane, a swimmer that fails to stay in their half of the lane or that has physical contact with the other swimmer will now be disqualified and ordered from the pool.
Appendix 1 of the rules lists differences from age group and international rules.
Posted at 05:09PM Dec 10, 2008 by Lindsay in General | Comments[0]