Triathlons: Changing out of swimsuits in public?

Question

There are a number of pix on the Web showing guys changing from trunks to biking gear in public. Googling
triathlon "public changing" OR "public nudity" OR "naked in public"
finds over 9,000 hits, and among the first 100, all relevant cases either prohibit such behavior or specifically require changing inside tents or buildings. Which suggests that there is reason to state an explicit prohibition.
Given the above, my questions are: Did it use to be allowed for triathlon guys to change in public? Are there any races where it's still permitted, and/or where guys still do so anyway? Are the published bans regularly observed and/or enforced?

To [nameless]: It's not a stupid question, it's an ignorant one--that is, I've told you all I know and confessed ignorance as to more. And if you don't take it as a given that at least the questioner cares to know the answer, you will continue to earn 2 points without deserving them.

Answer 1

As of 1992, in any USAT Sanctioned event "indecent exposure" is a violation of the rules and will result in a time penalty per section 3.4 article n of the USAT Rules and Regulations. The waiver for a NON-USAT Sanctioned event will usually specify this as being against the rules as well. However, if it is not addressed directly in the race waiver or rules the athlete will abide by the laws governing the town/city/jurisdiction in which they are racing, including laws of indecency and exposure.

As far as I am aware, these laws have not always existed and are rarely enforced outside of USAT events mainly because so few people purposely violate them. With the advantages in clothing technology most athletes don't even change in transition anymore and that eliminated a lot of the cases of exposure that may have occured.

So, in conclusion, in a USAT Santioned event indecent exposure is illegal and has been since at least 1992. I have not come across any earlier sanctions. However, earlier legislation states that all athletes must obey the laws of the juristdiction in which the race takes place, thus any local indeceny laws would be enforced. Outside of USAT events local laws and rules of the race apply as well. Of course there are people who do not obey the rules or accidently expose themselves but it is not a common occurance. An article from ITU history of triathlon states, " In some of the earliest races, tents were provided for changing clothes. In the modern day, however, competition and pressure for time has led to the development of specialized triathlon clothing that is adequate for both swimming and cycling, meaning many racers' transitions consist of little more than removing goggles and pulling on a helmet and cycling shoes." So the tents seem to go way back with the sport.

If we think about this historically, triathlon originated in France in the 1920's and 30's and at that time there was no need to change clothes anyway because they would basically swim, bike and run in a one-piece athletic suit. The specialization of clothing that would lead to having to change came about in later years and made the tents unecessary.

From experience, I've never seen this rule enforced and I have only seen it broken accidently in transition. I have seen it stated on waivers of non-USAT canctioned events that all local laws must be followed.

Hope this helps, very insightful question!

Answer 2

what kind of a stupid question is this? and who cares? it is not enforced, if you watch the olympics, they never go to tents to change. They just change in public