COMMENTARY: BACKSTROKE FINISH RULE NEEDS CHANGE AFTER JUSTIN RESS DQ ORDEAL

by David Rieder

It was a pure moment of triumph for two American sprint backstrokers. Justin Ress had edged out world-record holder Hunter Armstrong to win the world title in the 50 backstroke, and the two men raised their arm in celebration. But moments later, the scoreboard flipped, and Armstrong was listed as the gold medalist with Ress disqualified for fully submerging at the finish. After a confusing hour that included Armstrong accepting the gold medal and a long video review, the DQ was overturned, and Ress was reinstated as the winner. Armstrong gladly handed over the gold medal to his teammate.

The situation was resolved with the rightful winner leaving Budapest with a gold medal, but why was the Ress victory ever in doubt? Officials disqualified the 24-year-old for fully submerging at the finish as he lunged for the wall. The technique Ress utilized at the end of his race is fairly common among backstrokers, throwing the head back after the last stroke and using a final dolphin-kick motion to reach for the wall. There is considerable debate whether this motion is actually more efficient than simply reaching back on the final stroke, but Ress and his coaches clearly believed the lunging finish was best for him.

The problem only arises if a swimmer lunges so far back and ends up completely underwater. According to the official rules for backstroke, “Some part of the swimmer must break the surface of the water throughout the race, except it is permissible for the swimmer to be completely submerged during the turn and for a distance of not more than 15 meters (16.4 yards) after the start and after each turn.” too much of an advantage from their underwater dolphin kicks off the start and each turn. Since the early 1990s, backstrokers have only been permitted to go 15 meters before emerging. The finish is, of course, well past 15 meters, so underwater finishes are out. Clearly the rule was not written to regulate finishes, but the wording of the rule necessitates its application, and it’s not abnormal to see backstrokers disqualified for infractions at the finish.

Well, the wording of the rule needs to change. It’s time for FINA and the other powers in swimming to rewrite the guideline so no swimmer at the World Championships or your local club meet is DQ’ed for a tick-tack infraction on a backstroke finish.

Consider most of the common reasons for a disqualification in swimming: false start (in an individual event or relay), non-simultaneous motion or touch on breaststroke or butterfly, kicking too far underwater or an extra dolphin kick on breaststroke. All of these violations provide an unfair advantage for a swimmer. A backstroke finish where the swimmer dips an inch or two underwater? No advantage — so why does this need to be a disqualifying offense?

How do you rewrite the rule so that swimmers are still prevented from kicking underwater past 15 meters. Simple: look at the guidelines used by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). The rule is almost identical to the one utilized by FINA and USA Swimming, except the last sentence reads: “After breaking the surface of the water, the swimmer must remain on the surface except for turns and finishes.”

Make an exception for finishes. It’s that simple. It will save headaches at swim meets across the world, and it will save swimmers ranging from age groupers to world-record holders (like Armstrong) from feeling like a victory was fraudulent.

This would not be the first time in recent memory that swimming has undergone a significant rule change to bring out better fairness. It has only been since 2005 that a single dolphin kick has been allowed in each breaststroke pullout, and that rule brought about much more significant change than an adjustment on backstroke finishes would.

Of course, if FINA is already making changes in backstroke, it makes sense to get rid of the delay-initiating-turn rule on backstroke, another global source of frustration. High school swimming and college swimming have dropped the rule, and it makes sense. A swimmer gliding or kicking into the wall on a backstroke flip turn would only be slowing himself or herself down. No need for a penalty if the swimmer is getting no extra advantage!

Let’s be clear: no one is suggesting there need to be massive overhauls to stroke technique. Just make some tweaks. These changes would make the sport a smoother experience for youth swimmers, masters swimmers and world champions alike, and they would help ensure that the most deserving swimmers are the ones receiving the medals.«

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