Sven,
You're missing the point. The current rules are so strict that people are getting disqualified who were not even close to their limit--they were shivering, they were clumsy, they looked left or right a bit too suddenly. No one wants to train all year and spend a few grand to travel to a competition where you get one chance and then get DQ'd even though you were fine all along.
Also, certain competitors simply don't 'look good' when they come up, no matter how short or long they hold their breath. Some typically have 'wide eyes' (as habit), or some other characteristic which makes it appear they are having a problem.
The word samba or LMC should even be removed from AIDA rules, because currently the athlete is not even required to 'shake' to qualify for a samba/LMC. Simply gazing into space (glazed over), will be judged an LMC/samba, even though there was no shaking. So, it should be called the 'look good' rule, where the athlete has to 'look good' when he comes up.
I never want to see huge shakers being accepted, but what really annoys me is when people are being DQ'd who never actually had sambas. In Cyprus, MANY athletes protested their DQ and won -- proving they never samba'd in the first place.
I have been a safety diver at many local competitions, and I have seen divers be DQ'd who did not samba, and I have seen divers who samba'd and didn't get DQ'd. The point is that the definition of a samba needs to be clarified.
Eric Fattah
BC, Canada
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