The Lochte Rule: Why All the DQs and What Could Change

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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By David Rieder.

Of the 48 swimmers who raced in an A, B or C final of the 400 IM at U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, four—or 8.3 percent—were disqualified for “swimming more than one-quarter of the race in a style of backstroke.” The so-called Lochte rule had been triggered.

The most notable of those DQed, of course, was Ella Eastin, the rising junior at Stanford who lost out on a World Championships spot she thought she had secured. Bethany Galat was also DQed out of the women’s A-final, while Abrahm DeVine was DQed in the prelims of the men’s event after swimming fast enough to make the top eight.

After Eastin and Galat’s DQs were announced, the crowd booed. The swimmers were getting themselves disqualified by pushing off on their back after a flip turn, specifically the final turn of the race. Is that not what coaches teach their swimmers from day one of flip turn lessons?

But Jay Thomas, the Chairman of the USA Swimming Rules Committee, explained to Swimming World that it’s not so simple. The swimmers do have some room to push off on their backs, so long as they get to a position closer to their front quickly.

“The way we observe it is, a swimmer comes in for the turn, and we observe the feet. As long as the feet are on the wall, nothing to judge,” Thomas said. “Once the feet leave the wall, we identify the position of the shoulders, so we have to shift our view there.

“Meanwhile, the swimmer is moving through the water. We don’t judge them until we identify the position of their shoulders, and then we go, ‘Are they towards their back, or are they towards their breast?’ They get some time. That’s by design, so we don’t over-officiate it and make bad calls.”

Thomas insists that officials do not project backwards and assume that a swimmer must have been on his or her back after pushing off the wall. A call will only be made if there is clear evidence that they did not immediately rotate towards their front.

In Eastin’s case, the video replay tells the full story. Off the final turn, she pushed off on her back, glided for a moment and then began dolphin kicking—all while still on her back.

“They were all very clear, just like that,” Thomas said. “There was no doubt.”

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The good news: The Lochte rule, at least in its current form, will likely soon be no more. The FINA Bureau has recommended a rule change, and the FINA Congress is expected to pass the rule shortly before the swimming competition kicks off at the World Championships in Budapest.

The re-worded rule would read: “For freestyle in the medley, the swimmer must be on the breast except when executing a turn. The swimmer must return to the breast before any kick or stroke.”

“That would allow a swimmer to be towards their back, provided they are not kicking or stroking, to give them the time to roll,” Thomas explained.

However, because she was clearly kicking underwater on her back, Eastin would still have been disqualified under that alternative rule, which would not take effect until September at the earliest.

So even if the rule change passes (as is expected), swimmers still must remain conscious about how they push off the wall and perform underwater kicking during the freestyle leg of medley events, individual and relay, going forward.

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24 Comments

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Karen Ferguson

6 years ago

Ross Mathieson

Jonna Waller

6 years ago

Nicole Bel Puma

Kerry Hendrickson Pepper

6 years ago

Patty Poach
Jessica Hauck Bitner

Paul Windrath

6 years ago

I can take exception with one thing you said, David, and that is all coaches teach their swimmers to push off on their backs off freestyle turns. In my 40 years of coaching, I have never encouraged it because it is extremely difficult for most swimmers to smoothly transition from back to stomach while kicking. Just watch underwater video and see how much drag and resistance is created.

And, I hate to speak disparagingly about the head coaches of these swimmers, but this rule is not new. The coaches should have been on top of this as well as the swimmers. These coaches “failed” their swimmers by not observing in practice and insisting on making the change.

Victoria Stawik-Raven

6 years ago

Reply to Paul Windrath

I have to agree with you. In 26 years of coachhing, I have found that pushing off on your side is the better compromise. Although the flip, as it were, has to be so, that the feet touch the wall with the toes pointing to either left or right wall.

Leander

6 years ago

Reply to Paul Windrath

Officials at other meets probably also failed them by not disqualifying them.

Barrett W. Bole

6 years ago

As an official, I think that the freestyle start following transition from breaststroke needs to be obviously toward the breast, then allow a normal freestyle including turns. It’s hard to watch corkscrewing swimmers doing dolphin kicks in multiple lanes and present a fair opinion of their shoulder position relative to the horizontal plane. Just my thoughts.

Tasha McGill

6 years ago

Rule has been out since 2015, no excuses.

Julian Ch

6 years ago

As a pro swimmer you should be aware of this rule. I really don’t see the point in complaining afterwards.

Ross Knowles

6 years ago

Don’t call it the Freestyle leg if you can’t do Freestyle as it’s defined. I believe that once the swimmer touches the wall in the IM that starts the Freestyle leg, then anything goes as long as they surface by the 15m mark. Just my 2 cents.

Leander

6 years ago

Reply to Ross Knowles

It’s not freestyle; it’s any other stroke except the first three, and it’s been that for more than 50 years.

Carl Millholland

6 years ago

Reply to Leander

Yes, but, freestyle isn’t a proscribed stroke. Other than the 15 meter rule, freestyle has no defined restrictions. So, what, then is the definition of “freestyle?”

Josh Stibrich

6 years ago

I don’t care how long the rule has been out, when you teach how to do a free turn one way for every other event and this way for just this event, it is going to cause problems. Muscle memory is going to control swimmer instincts during a race like this when they are fatigued. The fact that the rule was made in response to one swimmers innovation is ridiculous. The rule should be called correctly while it is on the books, but the rule shouldn’t exist.

Sean McCully

6 years ago

There is no reason to regulate the freestyle turn or transition from breaststroke in any way. It’s freestyle. Freestyle should continue to evolve to whatever competitors find is the fastest way to move through the water. Also we have already determined that turning is not swimming, which is how the back flipturn came to be accepted. Kicking is not doing a stroke. Kicking on your back is not swimming anything and not in violation of freestyle rules. The consideration of on back or breast during the IM freestyle turn should be completely abandoned. Where the swimmer is when the first stroke of the freestyle leg is should be the sole factor considered. If they take a stroke on their back it is backstroke.

Derek Wallace

6 years ago

Rules are rules and the IM rules are very clear and specific. As a technical official the DQ reports were valid and accepted by the referee.

Carole Machol-Atler

6 years ago

Reply to Derek Wallace

Referee ?

Colleen Hazlett

6 years ago

Pushing off on your back in a flip turn?

Ed Eckels

6 years ago

Reply to Colleen Hazlett

When feet leave wall in free flip turn body must be at or past vertical towards breast.

Colleen Hazlett

6 years ago

Reply to Colleen Hazlett

You don’t push off on your back.

Katrina Anne Drew

6 years ago

Russell Drew

6 years ago

Reply to Katrina Anne Drew

I totally agree with the rule. Why would you be on your back from a breaststroke turn anyway?

Carl Millholland

6 years ago

The proposed rule change, “The swimmer must return to the breast before any kick or stroke” is insuffcient. Freestyle means freestyle. One could swim any freestyle event completely on the back. Why should their be a restriction for the IM. Butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke according to their individual rules; freestyle: whatever gets down the pool as fast as you can.

Leander

6 years ago

Reply to Carl Millholland

The rules for freestyle are that you can do anything except push off from the bottom or pull on the lane lines as long as you surface less than 15 meters from the wall each length of the pool and touch the wall with some part of your body at the end of every length.

The rules for the final leg of a medley (individual or relay) are different because they are supposed to test how well you can do a medley (combination) of four different strokes. If you repeat one of the first three strokes in the final leg, then you aren’t doing four different strokes, which is the whole point of a medley race. If you start the final leg on your back, then you are doing backstroke, not any other stroke but the first three .

Carl Millholland

6 years ago

Reply to Leander

I just read the rules on freestyle, and you are correct: freestyle in any medley swim cannot be one of the other three strokes.