But the ban will not come into effect until 2010, leaving competitors at the World Championships, which start on Sunday at Rome's Foro Italico in an ethical no-man's land.

Questions about the suits were banned from today's British press conference so the likes of double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington and Games medallists David Davies and Jo Jackson had to look to next week's event without referring to what is the biggest issue in the sport and what directly affects them and their prospects.

So when Davies predicted every world record could come under threat, the subtext it was as a result of the technological advances of the suits could not be expressed.

In Sunday's 400 metres freestyle, Adlington will wear the partial polyurethane Speedo LZR suit while compatriot Jackson will opt for all-polyurethane adidas Hydrofoil.

Germany's double Olympic title-holder Britta Steffen plans to don the adidas Hydrofoil in which she slashed the 100m freestyle world record despite saying it should be banned.

Michael Scott, Britain's performance director, addressed the issue afterwards and claimed the swimmers had been talking about it "ad nauseum" and "now we're here in Rome it is about time we talked about why we are here and that is the athletes".

He said: "If my understanding is true then January 1 it is back to textiles and then today is the day we start to move forward in swimming again."

Adlington, who won two golds medals in Beijing, is among those who faced a tough decision over which suit to wear at the world championships.

She stuck with her sponsoring company, Speedo, instead of switching to a polyurethane suit made by Jaked or Arena, generally thought to be the fastest things on water.

Scott said: "Rebecca is entirely comfortable in the Speedo.

"It's her choice and she's very confident. Rebecca feels totally comfortable and relaxed."

The move to ban the suits follows Fina's amendment yesterday to ban anything that aids buoyancy, speed and endurance.