The Golden Age Swimmer Speedos

[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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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.