A Swedish swimming club bans girls from wearing a two-piece suit while training.
A totally sexist decision, people in and around the club believed.
– They said that boys would find it difficult to concentrate if girls wore bikinis, says one.
In May, Sportbladet wrote that a 14-year-old swimmer had been subjected to a sexual offense by an elderly person in the association. Despite the conviction of the offender, he continued to swim while the girl changed clubs.
The situation was exacerbated by the fact that the victim was forced to meet the young man during training because their association shared the facilities. The case led to a number of swimming clubs boycotting the offenders club.
Many people are now witnessing that the environment at the club has changed after a new coach was appointed two years ago. Among other things, they no longer allow girls to train in a bikini.
“It’s strange to hear”
– It was especially evident in the camps. While other clubs allow swimmers to split in two, their girls are not. I’ve heard it said openly at meetings, as another club leader says.
The reasons are many. Among other things, it looks unprofessional, if they have a bikini, they will not be respected and the boys have a hard time concentrating on their training. From what I understand, it was not expressed as a ban, but was quite clearly undesirable, says a relative of the swimmer.
A third person says he was also at a meeting where the adults in the club told the girls that only swimwear is accepted for training. This should not be justified by the fact that swimming in certain clothes is worse, but the risk of attracting unwanted appearance.
– They believe that a bikini top can slip off when diving off the platform. Pretty awful, isn’t it? As if swimming trunks couldn’t do that, the person says and continues:
Swimwear apply to competition
– It’s horrible for someone to decide so much about swimmers. And only about girls, not about boys. I think it’s very scary. When I asked about it, they said it’s not dangerous to train in a bikini because then you only care about your appearance and not your sport, he says.
The FINA rules determine the suit to be worn in the competition. Two pieces are not allowed. In today’s federations, swimwear is also the most popular garment for girls, especially during the winter and in bouts of speed.
But when outdoor training moves, it happens that girls swim in bikinis, especially in the quieter workouts, which can be seen in everything from juniors to national team swimmers like Sarah Sjostrom. The clubs that Sportbladet is talking about don’t mind that thing.
You can wear a swimsuit and you can wear a two-piece if you like. Two pieces are worn when we are outdoors. We have never thought about this issue and we will never have any such ban,” says Thomas Salinius, Technical Director of Jönköpings Simsällskap.
– We have no opinions about the clothes. Only in competition. You can swim with a hoodie if you want to, even if you probably aren’t that fast, says Åsa Bjerkén, president of Malmö Swimming Club.
The Swedish Swimming Federation does not have guidelines for the dress code that should apply to the associations.
– I’ve never had this problem before, but the association has the right to make its own rules, says union leader Mikael Jansson.
Sportbladet offered the swimming federation to answer questions about its rules.