The Golden Age Swimmer Speedos

[Brent]

I found a playlist of 18 videos on You Tube entitled, "Swimming hot skimpy speedos Vintage." Back then before the new high tech fabrics it was thought that the smaller the suit the faster you could go. This lead to downsizing and in some cases extreme downsizing as you can see in some of the videos. I swam in the 90's and that's how I wore my speedo in competition. I am curious what you guys think.


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS7ePBOQDG2uD-RZnerqDi9FJUhTOorvK

[Bede735]

The 1989 NJO West SCY mens 200 im finals is amazing. Some of the briefs on those swimmers appear to have only one inch sides.

[speedorob86]

that's crazy.

[Brent]

Yeah, if its even 1 inch. Because smaller meant faster, guys became obsessed with wearing the smallest speedo possible. When some guy on your team or the competition went to extreme downsizing you had to also. I think that is what that video shows.

[Bede735]

There's a similar swimsuit you could buy from here:

http://www.proswimwear.co.uk/diana-mens-farrel-briefs-black.html

If it wasn't for all the artwork on it I would be tempted.

[PSDave]

Our coach insisted on tight but they had to fit properly. There could be no exposure of the ass crack. He pointed out if there was any way for water to get in the suit it would slow us down. The same went for the front where the torso and legs come together. The suits were generally 2-2.5 inches on the sides but being stretched so tight they appeared to be smaller. "Water intrusion is the enemy" was the coaches chant on suit inspection days.

[tightjeans]

[QUOTE=Brent]I found a playlist of 18 videos on You Tube entitled, "Swimming hot skimpy speedos Vintage." Back then before the new high tech fabrics it was thought that the smaller the suit the faster you could go. This lead to downsizing and in some cases extreme downsizing as you can see in some of the videos. I swam in the 90's and that's how I wore my speedo in competition. I am curious what you guys think.

Thanks loads for you post I have been looking for something like this for awhile and really enjoyed it. Do have anymore?

[Brent]

[QUOTE=Brent]I found a playlist of 18 videos on You Tube entitled, "Swimming hot skimpy speedos Vintage." Back then before the new high tech fabrics it was thought that the smaller the suit the faster you could go. This lead to downsizing and in some cases extreme downsizing as you can see in some of the videos. I swam in the 90's and that's how I wore my speedo in competition. I am curious what you guys think.

Thanks loads for you post I have been looking for something like this for awhile and really enjoyed it. Do have anymore?
I found that list by accident just searching for speedos. If you look in the lower right column while viewing any of the videos in the playlist you'll see suggested similar videos. Those from the 80's and 90's are the ones you want. Around 2000, briefs became obsolete. Good luck.

[Bede735]

The suits were generally 2-2.5 inches on the sides but being stretched so tight they appeared to be smaller. "Water intrusion is the enemy" was the coaches chant on suit inspection days.
Did they wear a couple of sizes too small? Seems like a massive reduction.

[sebbie]

My recollection is that size-wise, this is pretty much what the guys wore in competition to the early 90s under the guise that less material made for faster times. however, i do not recall long rows of swimmers all clad in black..the suits were usually a rainbow of different colors.

In international meets it was always most interesting, as the Europeans had always been more attuned to wearing swimming briefs as skimpy as possible, so, like the French swimmers would be clad in a colorful suit that was only barely there, with every meet pushing farther the envelope in this regard. These suits were much like the little Asian suits of today.

The American guys, not wishing to be outswum by the European competition from, say Spain or France, and fearing the Europeans somehow knew more about the type of suit needed for fast times, felt they needed to try and be competitive suit style-wise as well, so, lacking the choices in the really skimpy swimwear the Europeans had, they simply downsized the suits that were available one size, two sizes or three sizes, which made the normally- designed 2" side suits look skimpier in competition and more like what the Europeans were wearing.

Maybe some of this was in the thinking that if a guy cupped his balls in a tight and skimpy enough of a brief, all the pressure would help him go faster down the lane and beat the Europeans. Swimsuit modesty did not rule as it seems to nowadays.

[Swimmboy]

Bede735 - I am positive those VERY brief suits on the guys in that 1989 NJO meet were the famed 'paper suits' of the late 80s - mid 90s era (before those horrible jammers and full body suits took over). I saw my first paper suit at the 1988 US Olympic swim trials meet in Austin, Texas - and was shocked and awed by their tight skimpiness! I purchased a few back then - still have them. They were made by different companies, with Speedo and The Finals being two manufacturers. Mine are both size 32 - I just measured them and the Speedo has a side width of 2 and 1/8 inches, the Finals is 1 and 3/4 inches. Of course many swimmers downsized even those brief suits - if you normally wore a 30 or 32 waist, most would drop to a 28 suit, and a few to 26! Who knows how narrow the sides on a 26" suit would be! The fabric wasn't actual paper, but is extremely thin and lightweight, and will actually 'crinkle' if you squeeze it in your hand. They originally came in black and navy blue, but more colorful suits later appeared. Nearly every collegiate US swimmer wore them at major meets during that time period, but usually not for regular in-season meets since they were fairly expensive and did not last more than several meets. That NJO meet in the video was stacked with future US talent - Josh Davis won gold medals at the 96 and 2000 Olympics, Brian Retterer won medals at Pan Pacific and World Championship meets, and multiple championship races at the US NCAA college meets, where he swam for Stanford - along with Tyler Mayfield. Oh, those glorious days of the paper suit!

[Torchwatch]

I was thinking the same thing about them being Paper Lycra suits, it would explain why they were only in black and navy.
I did own a pair of Paper Lycra Speedos at that time and they didn't last long, I think I should have downsized for a better fit but bought them in my usual Speedo size.
Paper Lycra was as hydrodynamic as possible before the water repelling technical fabrics were developed, but still had more drag than naked shaved skin. The suit was therefore as brief as possible.

The limit of briefness of a racing swim brief is 3/4" (18mm), the waist elastic is 1/2" (12mm), while the leg elastic is 1/4" (6mm). Since overlapping the 2 pieces of elastic would cause an unsightly and uncomfortable bulge they have to be sewn in side by side making a sum of 3/4" (18mm). Using narrower elastic would produce a swimsuit that would fall off when diving and be unable to take a waist cord to hold it up .

You can make a suit briefer by making it lower but then tunnelling exposing the top of the ass crack) occurs, letting in water and creating drag. Arena developed the lower cut swim brief and the Japanese took it to extremes.

The Brazilians developed a means of making a skimpier swim brief by cutting away the sides of the rear. Women's one piece racing swimsuits in the late 1980's and early 1990's began to look rather thong like but this style never caught on among men. Rule enforcement effectively banned these suits when younger girls started wearing them.
I have swum in a swim thong in the sea and found it to be comfortable and drag free (compared to racing speedos), however I would not consider wearing one in a public pool unless "everyone else" was wearing them and I knew I wouldn't get thrown out and banned.

[Bede735]

You can't wear thongs in a public pool. You can wear swimsuits as brief as you want provided there's full front and rear coverage. Oh, and they can't be transparent, either. As far as I know.

[Bede735]

Talking about a golden age, in the film ‘From here to Eternity, set in 1941, there is a scene at the beach where Burt Lancaster is wearing a pair of swimming trunks, which are much shorter than the modern swimwear which extend all the way down to the knees. Are we seriously to believe that modern man is more modest in his clothing than men more than seventy years ago?

[tightjeans]

You can't wear thongs in a public pool. You can wear swimsuits as brief as you want provided there's full front and rear coverage. Oh, and they can't be transparent, either. As far as I know.
If thongs and transparent suits became the norm for some I would totally quit swimming.

[tightjeans]

I am amazed at how slim these comp. swimmers are in most of these videos.Just saw a meet on TV - international - and the guys are very muscled.

[BriefBro]

I'm bringing this thread back now that summer, and hopefully speedo season, come back.

Before I graduated in 2011, I noticed the swimmers in my high school's team had about 1 inch sides. I believe, though, they used 2 inch sides but they downsized enough to make them look skimpy. The swim coach seemed very adamant about more authentic swimming. No one wore jammers. This was southern CA.