World Aquatics

Auto-detected content change during sync (commit 89c159c)

Recorded Aug 22, 2026

Auto-detected content change during sync (commit 016422c)

Recorded May 13, 2026

Most significant stroke-procedure change in backstroke since the introduction of the stroke itself. Prior to September 1992, backstroke swimmers had to touch the wall while still on their back before initiating any turn, or remain on their back while turning — making the turn substantially slower than freestyle. The September 1992 FINA amendment allowed swimmers to rotate to their breast on the approach and execute one push/pull arm phase (single-arm or simultaneous double-arm) before touching the wall, enabling the modern fast somersault-style flip turn that defines elite backstroke today. Drove a measurable speed improvement at every level of competition.

Recorded May 8, 2026

FINA tightened the backstroke start specification on 21 September 2005, modifying the rule governing toe placement below the water line at the start. The change addressed inconsistencies in start procedure that had emerged from divergent national-federation interpretations of the prior rule and aligned international and Olympic backstroke starts under a single specification. Discrete procedural tightening with a precise effective date — narrower in scope than the 1992 turn change but representative of FINA's ongoing rule-of-the-water refinement.

Recorded May 8, 2026

Most consequential equipment rule in modern swimming history. The FINA Congress voted on 24 July 2009 in Rome to reverse its prior posture and ban all body-length, non-textile swimsuits — closing the 2008-09 LZR Racer / Jaked01 / X-Glide polyurethane-suit era during which 43 long-course world records fell at the 2009 World Championships alone. New regulations took effect 1 January 2010, requiring suit fabric to be a textile (natural or synthetic woven yarns) and limiting coverage to waist-to-knee for men and shoulder-to-knee for women. The textile-only standard remains the foundation of all subsequent FINA / World Aquatics suit regulation.

Recorded May 8, 2026