Speedo LZR Racer suit - Controversial Swimwear Marring the Beauty of Aquatic Sports
There is a type of swimwear used by professional swimmers that has found itself at the centre of a serious controversy. Basically, this swimwear increases the speed of a swimmer many fold. Using the product, a lot of world records were broken and FINA, the governing body for aquatic sports, ruled that it gave those that wore it an unfair advantage over others.
The swimwear in question is Speedo’s LZR Racer full-length bodysuit. This particular bodysuit is being touted on the Speedo website as the fastest suit out there for professional swimmers. The suit is stated as being “Ultra lightweight, powerful and water repellent, (as it) reduces muscle oscillation and skin vibration through powerful compression”. It also has bonded seams and a built-in hydro form compression system. All this seems very technical and complicated, but apparently this suit is so good that it greatly increases aquatic speed. At the Beijing Olympics in 2008, 40 world records were broken by swimmers, and this amazing feat was attributed to the suits they were wearing. It might be a bit unfair to say that, because these athletes trained very hard and are at the top of their game, but FINA backs this claim with extensive studies, coming to the conclusion that the only advantage these swimmers had in their superlative speed was the full body suit they were wearing.
A website gives us a bit of in-depth knowledge about exactly what manufacturers are doing in suit technology. “Manufacturers are changing materials and fits, as well as collaborating more closely with scientists who know fluid dynamics, to try to supply that precious hundredth of a second,”. These technological advancements could be responsible for hampering the sport, and giving certain professional swimmers an undeniable edge over their fellow competitors. This is, perhaps, why FINA decided to go back to basics and ban the full body suit from the competition, opting for a more traditional trunk style suit instead. With swimmers getting too fast, the governing body had to rein it in somehow. Olympic committees and other sports governing bodies always keep a close eye on anything that gives or could potentially give an athlete an unfair advantage over another. They clamp down hard on performance enhancing drugs and other substances that artificially induce strength and speed in an athlete. Now they have turned their attention to swimwear. FINA banned the full body suit in January 2010 and it came into effect in April. They even reined in some big guns to help them make sure the suits produced after the ban met regulations. “A scientific commission with materials experts from each continent will approve swimsuits and monitor developments in technology,” FINA said.
A recent meeting was held in Doha, Qatar, to discuss the potential of setting up a series of swimming meets. There was an ulterior motive to these meets though; they would allow full body suits and give swimwear manufacturers a chance to sell their suits to swimmers for these meets. “The cash-prize meet in December – aims to give manufacturers a market for the shiny suits banned on Jan 1,”.FINA basically laid down the following law regarding any swimmer that wanted to participate in the meet: they would be banned for a year from international competitions. It seems the full body suit is getting some real bad press these days, and it seems manufacturers are trying to recoup development costs anyway they can, even by selling their suits to be used at a new swim meet that would lead to some serious consequences for swimmers.
Whatever happens in the future regarding swimwear for professional swimmers, this controversy doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. It seems we were better off when swimmers wore little brief trunks and nobody was checking whether their briefs made them faster. We should go back to a time when swimming was just that: swimming, and not science and big companies trying to make tons of money with advanced swimwear.
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