Swim caps designed for natural black hair banned at the Olympics

I guess if you want to be disqualified from the Olympics you can try tampering with your equipment

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FINA is committed to ensuring that all aquatics athletes have access to appropriate swimwear for competition where this swimwear does not confer a competitive advantage

Given that Speedo has an approved cap (Speedskin3 “Hair Management System”) wherein the athlete is supposed to mold her hair into a hydrodynamic cone for competitive advantage, a good deal of rules lawyering is to be expected.

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They’re corrupt as hell, but that doesn’t explain their borderline phrenology…

FTA:

International Swimming Federation rejects use of Soul Cap, saying it does not ‘fit the natural form of the head’

https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1410994285747470336

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The Olympiics begin on 23 July. Why is FINA releasing approvals at such a late date?

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The history of competitive swimming (or even recreational swimming) has even more layers of racism than most sports. The IOC should be bending over backwards to make it more welcoming to People of Color.

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This brings up more questions…

How do folks dispose of a swimming pool of syrup that’s been contaminated by a human being? Do they just pour it into the Thames?

P.S. I’ve seen the Thames up close. I know how dirty it is.

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Where do you think they got it from?
(ba dum tss)

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I pointed out that exact line. If people can’t see that as straight up racism… :woman_shrugging:

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What’s more, that language was newly devised in 2009, indicating that racism (under the utterly transparent guise of limiting the technological advantage wielded by well funded competitors, or similar nonsense) continues to be a systemic problem.

They pretty much said “doesn’t look like white people swim caps. So they’re banned”

How is that not racist?

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it prevents speedo from sculpting a 2000 dollar cap to make Michael Phelps look like a Mako Shark.

My friend, you are now speaking words that mean nothing to me. My final answer was always “shave it off.” The women had to deal with it on a more constant basis. For some reason, tney did not like my answer. :man_shrugging:

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Read my comment again. I wasn’t saying anything about whether they’re racist or not. I was saying that they didn’t intend to let the world know that they’re racist.

Do I think they’re racist, and deeply into all sorts exploitation etc? Yes, I do.

They said a blatantly racist thing. Saying that Black heads aren’t natural is so very racist that you’d have to work to get more racist.

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One little problem, why is the bit about Africa set in the past perfect? Africans still live in Africa, and many can still swim. They still fish and pearl dive too. Have a little google, thousands of Acrifan people swimming in africa.

The black-people-can’t-swim trope is as far as I know an American thing.

Not like America has any influence in world affairs… /s

The caps do not fit “the natural form of the head” – that’s the point of them.

In a more positive inclusiveness swimming story (and a nice little earner for Nike).

Tell that to the IOC.

CoViD

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How much does it cost in IOC kickbacks to redefine it as natural?