[perkee]

Many sports are running into the issues that powerlifting had to address in the past. Powerlifting used to only involve "gear" meaning suits, shirts, and wraps that store energy elastically and release it when performing the lifts (squat, bench, deadlift). The IPF, the biggest drug tested international federation, limits the techniques used in making the suits: singly ply of material, seams must me made in such a way without adding more material, wraps can only be two meters long, etc. The IPF now requires the manufacturers to obtain approval (with a fee, natch) for each piece of personal equipment as well as for the bars and plates used.

Other feds are attracting lifters by allowing multi-ply gear, not using an approved gear list for single ply, and not mandating the exact shape of your underpants when competing (seriously), and allowing for specialty bars for each lift.[1]

If the IAAF wants to go down this rabbit hole of limiting the assistance that equipment may provide, they might end up with a list of approved shoes if they aren't careful, or breaking the race into barefoot, foam sole, and springy sole divisions. That just increases the cognitive load for fans and in my opinion decreases the prestige of the various champions who have an asterisk by their records.

[1] There's also the whole angle of drug testing: the IPF is the premier drug tested international fed and the USAPL (its US affiliate) is the premier fed in the US. Competing feds without drug testing have actually started adding tested divisions presumably to attract lifters who want to be competitive without drugs.

[m5g]

Here's a personal anecdote about the underpants. A few years ago when I competed at an USAPL meet, I was weighing in in my underwear and the judge there said I couldn't wear my boxers (hanes). Since I did not have any extra pairs of underwear, I had to run around the venue to try and find a pair of scissors to trim down my underwear and make it legal.