Originally published at: Swim caps designed for natural black hair banned at the Olympics | Boing Boing
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How many of the persons responsible for the banned swim caps have natural black hair? I wonder aloud…
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“This move […] seems intended to simply let the world know that the committee is racist.”
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Very unlikely. I don’t disagree that the move showcases the committee’s racism in stark terms. But this was surely not their intention, right?
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As racist as this may be, it could also have to do with the company not being an Olympic sponsor, or with the company competing with an Olympic sponsor. The IOC is a notoriously corrupt and greedy organization. So I would not be surprised if money isinvolved with this decision.
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I think ‘Why Not Both’ is the most likely explanation.
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Nike or adidas Soul Caps style knockoffs will undoubtedly be sanctioned at the next olympics, now that this topic has received some daylight.
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For twice the price and triple the child labor
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Unintentional bias is still bias.
There isn’t a good reason to ban them that I can see.
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Cue the Youtube HOWTO video on how to field modify the sanctioned swim caps with duct tape, heat gun, and Aquaseal in 3, 2, 1,…
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Aquatic swimming must do better
I agree, but out of curiosity…what other kind of swimming is there?
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Air swimming. Sort of like air guitar, where you pretend you are swimming through water. It’s big in Japan.
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Uh huh. Athletes never used or required them. Why bother banning them?!
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Amniotic fluid swimming?
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I like the IOC documentary clip you’ve posted.
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The body said the caps did not fit “the natural form of the head” and to their “best knowledge the athletes competing at the international events never used, neither require … caps of such size and configuration”.
The last time I checked, my hair was a part of my head, and the only time it is not is when I get it cut off.
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The ban is odd, in that the caps would most likely be a disadvantage when it comes to streamlining and speed… Because it’s not a hard form-fit, it’s going to deform in odd ways when getting pushed through water. Yet somehow what a neutral scientific analysis would indicate was a handicap is still not allowed. Weird how that works…
Expected excuses when pressed further about the ban:
1). The sanctioning body didn’t have enough time to do a full analysis of the accessory and therefore could not allow it for this season.
2). The excess size could be used to hide unpermitted technology such as a bone-conducting communication link that could give a competitor an unfair advantage.
3). There’s something not quite white about the person wearing it.
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Not exactly their intention, merely confirmation that the standard is “what fits white people” and anything deviating from that is unacceptable. But not racist, of course not.
(ETA: Former NAIA All American swimmer, spent many hours in the standard caps. The (very few) Black kids I swam with did not like the standard caps at all, and most just went without.)
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That must have been horrible for their hair!
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True, but there might a legacy rule that is causing the issue. Somebody probably had some goofy cap long ago, so the rules committee came up with what seemed a simple rule. Like any bureaucracy, they cling to a rule and have long procedures for changing them. And they are going to be very careful so as to avoid some Nike athletics lab figuring out how to reduce drag with some new loophole. i.e. some cap that fits a Ruby Rhod wild hairstyle to do some sort of vortex shedding blah blah blah.
You just explained why hair is not part of your head, but is instead attached to it. Which might be useful.
I can see this cap rule as fucking annoying. But this is a sport notorious for shaving your body. I doubt the cap rule will get in the way. Bald is beautiful too. Time to flip the IOC the bird, shave heads under protest, win some medals, and then fight the rules. A medal winner pointing to the fuzz on their head is going to get some attention!
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