Trux,
Who said anything about protecting current world record holders ???
The initial suggestion came from the current problems in exactly measuring depth. Specially if you account for effects of temperature , salinity , line stretch , wave action , line angle etc. Eric has already mentioned that in numerous threads. So as longs as we have that , why not make it fair and clear. And for the sake of clearing the discussions forget about all my other points with I mentioned. Then it is in principle absolutely NOT ridiculous and unacceptable (harsh words for an honest suggestion and normal discussion
) . Maybe 5 meters is not the perfect distance but clearly 1 meter has its problems with current measuring devices.
And if you are really interested in making world record more open to all athletes to fill up their CV and not just the rich ones with big sponsors and large support teams so then can dive weeks on end at the bests spots in the world to try day after day to get the record, then get rid of record attempts completely.
Luckily the last years there are more and more competitions so people can try it under normal and equal circumstances, but as long as you keep WR attempts possible , the big boys (not necessary the best ) will remain on top. There is a big difference there compared to trying one and only one time under stressfully situations. I think this mechanisme falls more under your mentioned category of protecting the WR holders.
