Cullen Jones of the United States is about to dive during a training session at the Swimming World Championships in Rome, Friday. Record-setting bodysuits were banned by FINA on Friday. A U.S. proposal to limit the amount of swimsuit coverage, between the waist and knees for males, not beyond the shoulders or below the knees for females, was overwhelmingly passed.

ROME — Swimming's governing body banned record-setting bodysuits Friday, a major step in limiting technology in the pool.

FINA has come under criticism for its failure to regulate the rapid advances in swimsuit technology that has led to 108 world records last year and nearly 30 so far this year.

Some suits are suspected of creating "air trapping" effects that artificially enhance speed.

"The most important thing is the future; the past we cannot change," FINA executive director Cornel Marculescu said. "The congress has made a very big statement."

A U.S. proposal to limit the amount of swimsuit coverage — between the waist and knees for men, not beyond the shoulders or below the knees for women — was overwhelmingly passed by the FINA congress, meeting in Rome during the world championships.

On Thursday, FINA classified swimsuits as a device that can aid performance; on Friday, the group set suit guidelines on coverage and material.

The new rule also says suits shall only be made from "textiles," but that term has yet to be defined.

"The most important thing is that it's textile only," Mark Schubert, head coach and general manager of the U.S. national team, told The Associated Press. "I think we sent a strong message as to our feeling of what the suit should be."

The new rules won't take effect at these swimming championships, where dozens of world records could be set in suits made from materials such as polyurethane.

The legislation was passed as a general rule, but then a subsequent motion from Britain to make the rules part of FINA's bylaws was accepted, putting the matter in the hands of FINA's bureau.

General swimming rules only come up for discussion at the FINA congress every four years, whereas the bureau meets several times each year, and can also convene on short notice.

"We didn't disagree with the U.S. proposal, but we wanted the flexibility to amend it as technology moves on, and we can now," said David Sparkes, the chief executive of British Swimming.

But bureau bylaws pertain only to world championships and Olympics.

"FINA rules in general are only for worlds and Olympics. It's normally up to each federation to decide on their own rules," Marculescu said. "We will clarify it and hopefully finish with the suit controversy."