Speed Lzr Vs Speedo Aquablade

[California Dolphin]

I've never understood the rational for tech suits in competetive swimming.

Tech suits are just another form of mechanical swimming aid and using them in competetion is sort of a "cheat sheet" approach and nothing is really achieved by setting a new world record by using one.

I've often pointed out that FINA prohibits the use of other mechanical aids such as paddles and flippers and some exotic things like rubbing surfactants all over your body to break surface tension.

In the past, FINA preferred the racer briefs because they minimized the role of the suit and eliminated extraneous variables as much as possible. So why has FINA done a 180 degree turn and allowed "suit technology", but not other devices?

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

On the more practical and humorous side, getting in and out of the full or fuller coverage suits is a task in itself. When the full body suits were allowed, it took two people to get you in and out (which made for a situation in itself). Also, once in, the suits were in many ways far more revealing than just briefs... and damn tight.

[Byron]

Yes, indeed...........and for the girls too.
I know I should not waste space on this forum but do google the headline
"Flavia goes butt Jaked".

[Swimmboy]

Byron - it wasn't so much the 2008 Olympics that led to the banning of the new suits - some 19 world records were set there, but 7 of those were entirely or partially (relays) by the amazing Michael Phelps (a young man I've had the pleasure of meeting personally). What happened was that a bunch of new suit companies entered the market on a world-wide scale and tried to 'out-do' each other as the fastest, slickest, etc. Fabrics became rubberized, in direct violation of the rules forbidding anything that aids in flotation. The following year, at the 2009 World Swim Championships in Rome, virtually everyone (except Phelps, who lost to Biederman in the 200 free who wore a now-illegal suit) was wearing the new suits, and world records were falling every few minutes as one heat swam faster than the previous heat. 43 new world records were set. Swimmers who previously ranked 5th or 7th in the world suddenly set a world record, only to lose it a few minutes later. The situation was absurd, and FINA belatedly created new requirements (textile suits only, nothing below the knees or above the navel for men). Any world records set in London this summer will truly be amazing accomplishments.

[Byron]

Thanks for enlightening me on the Rome Championships and I can see that it would be more accurate to say that a series of events produced absurd situations in what was acceptable within the rules and these problems were at last seriously addressed by FINA and new rules published in 2010, to be effective from 2011.

CD rightly makes a point above about a FINA turnabout and the wardrobe malfunction of Flavia Soccari (see above) happened to a Jaked Jo1 suit in July 2009. That was a banned suit by virtue of its polyurethane content giving an unfair buoyancy advantage but had its ban lifted after a
successful protest by Jaked in June 2009.

I think there is a one-word answer to CD - money.
Formula 1 and Premier League Football have long been recipients of considerable amounts of sponsorship donations, advertising revenues,
tv broadcasting rights, etc. but swimming has been a minnow in the big pool of such sports promotion activities. The comparison of brand exposure is obvious - for example, twenty two men in shirts emblazoned with logos will be running on a pitch for 1 1/2 hours in front of maybe 80-90 thousand spectatators (not to mention millions watching at home and added markings on the pitch surface - and even Wimbledon allows a Mercedes Benz symbol at the nets).
By its very nature swimming cannot match the scale of these revenue opportunities but the costs of staging international events and the building of new state-of-the-art pools will continue to rise and require funding from whatever sources might be available.

[Byron]

Here is something on very non-technical suits - it is the swimwear section of a fashion show from Baku, November 2005.
The Turkish blogger watching the catwalk is obviously unimpressed and observes that "men and women alike wore the same unflattering speedos that Olympic swimmers wear":

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8894372...n/photostream/

Any readers from Azerbaijan to tell us whether LZRs have now arrived on the sports scene ?

[Byron]

Well, well , Speedo ended up having 600 obsolete LZR Racer suits to dispose of after FINA's new rules came into force It seems that 200 went into this work of art but that still leaves 400 somewhere.

http://inhabitat.com/pavilion-upcycl...edo-swimsuits/

[Crail]

Byron, thanks for your tenacity in finding the right URL to post and your informative posts.

[Byron]

LOL - somewhere among the smiley websites there is a "Yes" - and I want someone to produce an icon also for "You're welcome".

[dorcas3]

It all started with the East German women in one of the summer olympics-they had as wide shoulders as men and their suits a special fabric. Real Amazons!