Swim Wars heat up

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

A cease fire in the swimsuit legal battle proved temporary today, as Olympian Erik Vendt filed a counterclaim in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana against TYR Sport for breach of contract and slander.

Vendt, who qualified during the recent Omaha swim trials for his third Olympics team, was sued in May by TYR for breach of contract. TYR’s antitrust lawsuit also names Speedo’s parent company, USA Swimming and its head coach, Mark Schubert. TYR alleges that the defendants conspired to steer swimmers to the Speedo suits.

“This lawsuit, we think, was timed to disrupt his training for the Olympic swim trials,” Vendt’s attorney, Richard Foster, said today in a telephone interview. “They’re taking shots at Erik and they’re not telling the whole story … It’s really bothering Erik. We’re not going to sit here and take shots. We’re going to tell the true story.”

At issue is a clause in Vendt’s TYR contract that allowed him to wear a competitor’s suit “without forfeiting compensation, if TYR’s swimsuit was not reasonably comparable.”

Vendt alleges that the TYR suit failed to meet that standard.

“And we think we did,” TYR attorney Larry Hilton countered today during a telephone interview. “Our position was that we did offer a comparable suit, so he was not entitled to wear a competitor’s suit and be paid.”

Court papers allege that Hilton’s previous comments about Vendt to The Times and others wrongly portray the Olympian as ‘disloyal to a sponsor, greedy, unconcerned about fulfilling contractual obligations, dishonest, and illogical.”

Vendt, a two-time Olympic silver medalist, finished a disappointing fourth in the 1,500-meter freestyle race in Omaha. Vendt did qualify for Beijing, and could swim on the 800 freestyle relay, but won’t compete in an individual event.

Vendt’s court filing claims that TYR’s suit cut his back and tore at the seams and zippers. Foster said that Vendt tested Speedo and TYR suits, and found that TYR’s model absorbed water faster and had less constriction than the Speedo product.

According to the court papers, Vendt’s annual base compensation from TYR was $80,000. Potential bonuses ranged from $7,500 for a first-place finish at the trials to $50,000 for an Olympic gold.

--Lisa Dillman