[Brent]

Interesting thread. I swam competitively in the 90's, The common view back then was the smaller and tighter the speedo the better. For competition we had special racing suits. We wore them 1 size smaller than normal. This was to maximize the compression. It was more contoured and smaller on the sides than the regular speedo, very tight, and difficult to put on and take off. It didn't reach up all the way to cover my butt, and was unlined except for a thin layer of the same material up front. Visible penis (and balls) lines were the rule. We had to shave everywhere on our bodies, and i do mean everywhere. My obsession with swimming faster over-rode any modesty or embarrassment I felt. We switched to Speedo Aquablades around 1997, tight, striped, still worn a size too small, and semi-transparent. Supposedly it channeled water around the suit. I believe that the technology behind it led to idea that fabric could be less resistant than skin and therefore the larger suits evolved.