It was horrible watching the reputation of international swimming drown in front of me.
From the days when I used to wear ill-fitting arm bands and loose goggles which let water into my eyes, never have I been so furious with the world of swimming.
We have had the drug scandals in the Tour de France, Formula 1 wind tunnel tribunals and countless debates on footballers coming home with £200,000 a week, but the innocence and fair play of swimming was never called into question - until now.
Basically, a row has erupted because swimmers are wearing a new kind of suit.
It started in February 2008 when Speedo introduced a new suit which has 50 per cent polyurethane in it and doesn’t use any stitches because it is lasered shut.
The secret behind it is pretty simple. It traps air between the body and the suit, meaning more buoyancy in the water and with extra buoyancy swimmers will glide through the water unaffected by poor stroke work.
And the result - in just 18 months we have seen more than 150 world records slashed, with an eye popping 42 of those at the meet in Italy.
But like any technology, advances are made and this year’s World Championships in Rome have been marred by new 100 per cent polyurethane suits, where as the last ones only had polyurethane plates.
In no other sport would you see these kinds of records broken. Not only is the number alarming (11 in the last few days), but the actual times too. We are not talking about records being broken by 0.04 seconds, these new world records are being slashed by up to four seconds - previously unheard of unless you were up to no good.
The international swimming body, FINA, have come out and said they plan to ban the suits next year, but in the mean time, swimmers can slash records and beat true champions.
But imagine my delight when I heard Rebecca Adlington refused to wear the new suit - the sign of a true champion.
She may not have performed as she hoped at the Rome games, but she came home with more than any gold medal – her reputation intact.
As a former national swimmer myself, I know all about the gruelling 5.30am starts in the pool before school and missed homework because you are too tired to lift a pencil come 7pm. So it was disgusting to watch a champion like Adlington knocked back to third place in her 200m race and fourth place in her 800m race, behind swimmers competing with tools which have nothing to do with hard work.
Shame on FINA for even allowing the suits to be worn at this year’s World Championships and I hope the records don’t stand. For as long as these records remain, the sport’s reputation will be marked.
And in a shock performance during the meet, German swimmer Paul Biedermann beat eight times Olympic gold winner, Michael Phelps, in the 200m freestyle. Needless to say the German was wearing the suit and Phelps wasn’t.
After the race Biedermann said what was on all our minds: “I hope there will be a time I can beat Michael Phelps without the suit of course.”
Don’t we all Biedermann, don’t we all.
