The new Omega starting block will not be used at the Olympic Games, according to FINA Director Cornel Marculescu. FINA will decide on when the new block will be introduced when they gather at the World s/c Championships in Manchester in April. The equipment has won the support of some of the world's top sprinters.

Alain Bernard (FRA) tells L'Equipe today: 'It's brilliant. The start is my weak point so I could gain 0.2.' So could everyone else, of course, if it works like that. Bernard described the starting position of the block, which was first seen in tests at Melbourne 2007 and unveiled in final form at the China Open test event in Beijing last month, as 'really comfortable'. Filippo Magnini (FRA) was also in favour: 'You can't fall in from these blocks because our body weight is transferred on to the back leg.' The block is built with properties that make it similar to track equipment.

Stefan Nystrand (SWE) believed that the block needed more getting used to and therefore might not be suitable for use at the Olympic Games.

Marculescu tells the French paper that the block will be tested in real competition at world level after the Games during the World Cup season and then at Rome 2009, the World Championships.

Such a move would fit with the wishes of the United States and Australia, as well as other nations, who were concerned that the two blocks per country that Omega said that it would make available to each nation would not be enough for all those with a potential for making their Olympic team to get a chance to practice with the new equipment.