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New Advanced Swimsuit Could Help Break Many Olympic Records

cnn.com — The Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit is making such a splash in the pool that U.S. head coach believes every record in the sport could fall at the Beijing Olympics. Since the suit was unveiled in February, 19 long-course world records have been set and four short-course marks. The new Speedo suit has been worn in all but one of the 23 records.

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  • shaka776, on 04/11/2008, -23/+97Free Tibet
    • killerofkiller, on 04/11/2008, -0/+19I'll Take it!

    • consoneo, on 04/11/2008, -0/+7*Picks up the phone* China? I've got something you want, but it's gonna cost you...

      That's right. Alllll the tea in China.
    • HappyScrappy, on 04/12/2008, -0/+4*with purchase of Tibet of equal or greater value
    • mbradbury, on 04/12/2008, -1/+2Tibet has been part of China for 700 years why would they suddenly free it.
    • Krpano, on 04/12/2008, -1/+1***** Tibet and China...who cares !?
  • ChiffX, on 04/11/2008, -20/+9Buried as duplicate. http://digg.com/design/Can_a_Swimsuit_Be_Too_Good
    • gn0stik, on 04/11/2008, -1/+2This is actually mislabeled. That's a shot from the new live action SNL movie "The ambiguously gay duo."
  • MISking, on 04/11/2008, -13/+5How did this make it to the front page? It's old news and I think it was already on here.
    • skipdog172, on 04/11/2008, -2/+1It has 80 digs and was submitted 4 hours ago.
      • DaviDTC, on 04/11/2008, -0/+2It is a new article on something that was on the front page and actually news 2 weeks ago.
    • jrizzo, on 04/11/2008, -0/+3How did YOU make it to the front page?
      • trogdor282, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1How did your FACE make it to the front page!
  • kurtwinter, on 04/11/2008, -23/+59***** China.
  • legoalert33, on 04/11/2008, -13/+7They look like a couple of happy butt pirates in the water.
  • halobender, on 04/11/2008, -9/+3Holy ***** cutting edge news!
  • SaxmanTrav, on 04/11/2008, -8/+19guy on right has boner?
    • Xiazer, on 04/11/2008, -3/+4ahhhh!!! male cameltoe!! not good!
    • cl2yp71c, on 04/11/2008, -0/+6Belly-button?
      o.O
    • Samsong, on 04/11/2008, -0/+8It's ok, he's just never seen a non-pornographic picture on the internet before.
    • over900000, on 04/11/2008, -6/+5I would have said no until I noticed that he is asian.
    • ePuck, on 04/11/2008, -1/+1Neither of them have anything
    • megamod, on 04/11/2008, -4/+1They were tying to simulate a shark by adding small microscopic fins to make the swimmer more water-dynamic and a bump similar to a fin to help with alignment and balance. The bump is supposed to be on the swimmer's back, however it seems like he was wearing the suit on backwards.
  • XombieRobot, on 04/11/2008, -9/+1You need to get a man-zilian first! MMM jethus chwisthst
  • PubStomp, on 04/11/2008, -6/+0they should "dope" the suits for diving. then you would see some crazy *****
  • HenvY, on 04/11/2008, -4/+7Watching the short course championships today, EVERYBODY is wearing these(and it's more than four short course records now!). It's no surprise the suit has been called 'technological doping'. I'm not sure how I feel about it's use in the sport. Yes, it unnaturally improves the swimmers ability, but the only way really say it's not acceptable is to ban anything except goggles and trunks.
    • MWeather, on 04/11/2008, -1/+18Ban the trunks too. Bring the Olympics back to it's roots.
      • crodragn, on 04/11/2008, -0/+11The woman's swimming audience would quadruple overnight!
        • cap11235, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1I approve! Someone start a petition!
        • MWeather, on 04/12/2008, -0/+3Swimming? Imagine the women's track & field audience!
  • syda, on 04/11/2008, -5/+12Not fair to those of us who used to play it the hard way. Good ol' fashioned razor and shaving cream.
    • diggduggDOOM, on 04/11/2008, -3/+2I used fire!

      Wait... what game were we playing again?
    • samfishercell, on 04/11/2008, -0/+4I'm sure shaving off all your body hair has an effect...but then again Mark Spitz was able to win gold and set records all while looking like Magnum P.I.

      Swimming with a 'stache like that must have been like trying to run around with a parachute tied to your back. More power to you, Mr. Spitz. May your spirit (and stache) endure in the young athletes of today.
    • cbroz91, on 04/12/2008, -0/+4Actually, the razor and shaving cream are still used. The suit is so tight that any body hair would cause a bump in the suit and/or poke through the suit, causing drag.
  • epicwanted, on 04/11/2008, -5/+14"It's not a matter of technology," Rosolino said. "The matter is one suit has much more flotation. If I were to go out there in a scuba suit it wouldn't be fair either. There's something not right about it."

    Man has a point, if they ban performance enhancing steriods, why not ban performance enhancing suits?
    • dafragsta, on 04/11/2008, -3/+1Because.
    • tnoy, on 04/11/2008, -1/+18Why not cut out the advanced technology in bikes, shoes, skiis, snowboards, pole vault poles, etc, while youre at it, too?

      Most every sport has changed from technology, why should swimming be any different?
      • epicwanted, on 04/11/2008, -1/+2I suppose then, as long as it still takes some talent to win.
        • jordanmac, on 04/11/2008, -1/+4it takes the same amount of talent to win, they'll all be wearing the same suits so it will be fair for current competition...people are just saying it might not be fair to compare their swimming to athletes of the past who didn't have such technology. it's not like you could wear the suit and go out and win just because you have it on...
        • bahman2000, on 04/11/2008, -0/+2read the article
          swimmers have to wear their sponsors' suits!
      • MWeather, on 04/11/2008, -1/+5They regulate what technologies you can use in a lot of the sports. That's why you don't see Olympic archers with compound bows and laser sights.
        • xaxxon, on 04/12/2008, -0/+2But it would be cooler if they had them. I don't want to see the barrier to entry get up so high that you have to have 5 sponsors to even start practicing.. but if tech makes the sport easier, maybe it's not really deserving of being an Olympic sport, or maybe they should just make it a bit harder.
      • wubblie, on 04/11/2008, -0/+2There is a difference between using technology to make the equipment better, and adding something new that is not needed for the sport. Here, I don't why men need to wear a swimsuit that covers their chest. This is not a piece of equipment needed or traditionally used for the sport. As an analogy to cycling- you can make the rims lighter, but you cannot add a baffle to the bike.
      • sassafras1232, on 04/11/2008, -0/+2There IS a reason to ban some equipment and not others. Sports should be about human performance to some degree. That is why rules exist. Bicycles have a minimum weight, skis have a designated length ranges and sidecut restrictions, vaulting poles have designated lengths, etc. You just have to go as far as the governing body will allow (or as far as you think you can w/o them catching you).

        Personally, it seems to me that allowing full body suits detracts from the actual sport. Why not let them use swim fins or webbed gloves while we're at it? I wouldn't be surprised to see this change in the next few years.
        • bongle, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1Because just like in all those other sports you cited, the governing body has (somewhat arbitrarily) set a limit for how a sporting good can be. In this case, you can't wear fins, but you can cover your skin with something more hydrodynamic, so long as it doesn't increase your bouyancy.
          Every sport has somewhat arbitrarily imposed limits because some guy said "this far, and no further". Swimsuit design has obviously not hit that wall yet.
    • dognose, on 04/11/2008, -0/+4"there is no scientific evidence supporting claims of buoyancy"

      There already is a rule on buoyancy in swimsuits. Obviously, that is considered an advantage and is banned.

      It's just like the clap skate with speed skating and with other equipment improvements in other sports. Their is NO reason to ban improvements like this because it will eventually help us all perform better.

      The only problem right now is that it's a $600 suit.
      • psykiv, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1If you're going for the gold, dropping $600 on a suit is not even something you would think twice about.
    • linagee, on 04/11/2008, -0/+4make everyone swim nude
      • epicwanted, on 04/11/2008, -2/+1Ha, finally a reason to watch swimming.
  • yohnstoppable, on 04/11/2008, -2/+2Whoever makes those suits must have that cartoon effect of dollar signs literally replacing his eyeballs over this controversy
    • NachoBusiness, on 04/12/2008, -0/+1Hah that's a good point. Talk about a good PR incident... "The media keeps says our stuff is too good, boss"
  • mparker7410, on 04/11/2008, -8/+1*
  • ferretpants, on 04/11/2008, -0/+6I thought for sure that this was an Onion article when I saw the title
  • ihazstatus, on 04/11/2008, -3/+28Looks like the only answer to this is to swim naked
    • mustang460, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1you'd be slower naked actually
      • linagee, on 04/11/2008, -0/+3but at least the competition would be even.
        • slvrbullet87, on 04/11/2008, -0/+3That depends... it would be the only time a guy would want to have a small dick
        • avidwriter, on 04/12/2008, -0/+1not necessarily:D
    • Metatron197, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1only for women
  • fugazied, on 04/11/2008, -3/+7None of the records should be official. In the recent olympic qualifiers in Australia we saw a number of longstanding records get smashed because of this technology. Truth is they aren't better atheletes than the world record holders who help those records for 20 years, its just an artifical crutch and they should be banned.
    • Preeminence, on 04/11/2008, -0/+13Should new bicycles be banned because they are lighter? Should all pole vaulting records from the last 20 years be voided because we have new composite materials for the poles? Should all athletes abandon all training and nutrition knowledge that has been gained since the dawn of time?

      You can't pick and choose what should be allowed. It's all or nothing.
      • sassafras1232, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1Ummm...most cycling events have a minimum weight for the bikes...
      • boester, on 04/12/2008, -0/+0Yes.
    • flashingcurser, on 04/11/2008, -0/+3Should we disqualify all track records because shoes have gotten better? I wonder how many of the great runners would have done better with modern shoe technology?

      Just food for thought.
      • kdkauf, on 04/12/2008, -0/+1not to mention new synthetic surfaces. Technology is part of all sports.
      • fugazied, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2Its different, you are comparing the refinement of something (improving shoes over time), to the introduction of something (new all covering bodysuit using space age materials which has never been used in swimming before).
  • diggduggDOOM, on 04/11/2008, -1/+33Bring back naked Olympics!
    • Czin644, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1the only fair solution
    • bloodomen13, on 04/11/2008, -0/+3only if they have female wrestling...... mmmmm..... naked
      • GrantTheGr8, on 04/12/2008, -0/+2Have you seen the female wrestlers?
  • cl2yp71c, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1It's like a shock collar.
  • seantubridy, on 04/11/2008, -3/+24Swimsuits don't break records, people do. But China breaks people.
    • verkon, on 04/11/2008, -0/+3And rock beats scissors!
      • xaxxon, on 04/12/2008, -0/+1I just can't figure out how paper really beats rock, though.
  • Stettenbauer, on 04/11/2008, -7/+1Looks gay to me.........who cares?
  • DavidTTT, on 04/11/2008, -2/+3Hey thats the suit i ware every Sunday..I thought it was made for blogging faster?
  • Hetman, on 04/11/2008, -3/+1S
  • garryaw1, on 04/11/2008, -1/+0It would be fantastic if they banned all those new technological advancements, and swam the good old fashioned way............with a normal swimming costume.......
  • thedogfatherx, on 04/11/2008, -1/+1I think they could have used women in those pics instead of men. Their bits and berries are poking out there. Not cool.
  • Ranvier, on 04/11/2008, -1/+5Did Motorola help them name it?
  • bincoder, on 04/11/2008, -1/+2A speed boat would prolly work too, especially combined with a little HGH. The rules should allow only for swimming naked, and no chest shaving either.
  • hoofhockey, on 04/11/2008, -1/+5So... how is this any different than a runner's shoes? I think the issue is more that the other people that are sponsored by the other suits are pissed that they are now at disadvantage, but don't want to lose the sponsorship....

    Don't you think that the first person to wear shoes at a running event was at an advantage too over the others wearing nothing? I don't hear anybody complaining about shoes...

    This is an upgrade available to everybody, if they chose to take the money of the sponsorship over the new better suit... that's their decision
    • mousky, on 04/12/2008, -0/+1In many sports physical improvements have plateaued. People can only train so much. We are now relying on technological improvements. In a way, sport is becoming less about the person and the physical and is becoming more about the right technology. Is it fair to compare times from 50 years ago with times from today?
  • olddirtycr, on 04/11/2008, -1/+1The suit looks pretty good... Once they can remove the zipper completely I'm sure it'll allow a few more percent...
  • internetcoward, on 04/11/2008, -2/+2That's completely straight....
  • wubblie, on 04/11/2008, -2/+1When I switch over to swimming (which is not often), it is just to take a look at the physique of the swimmers- these guys are in awesome shape. Now that even the men are wearing black full body suits, who cares. I bet that most people are like me- we are just watching for the visual spectacle, and a guy in a one-piece looks stupid.
  • illegalcortex, on 04/11/2008, -0/+5Part of my brain thinks they should be banned. The reasoning being that the point of records are to say that this man/woman was the best at a given event that we've ever recorded. Another part says "no, it's really saying that this is the fastest/longest/etc. a human being has ever been able to perform that event in." Another part says this kind of thing has already happened in other sports like basketball when they added three pointers or in football when they changed the location and width of the goalposts. Good luck fairly comparing records before and after all those changes.

    Then the other 95% of my brain says "***** it, sports are pointless" and I click the submit comment button.
  • TctclMvPhase, on 04/11/2008, -3/+1How is this different from steroids? If we let technology make swimmers faster why not let steroids make baseball players stronger?
    • bongle, on 04/11/2008, -0/+2Because performance enhancement is a HUGE incentive, and steroid use comes with large future health penalties (see German swim team from the 80s). If legal, you'd have athletes destroying their future health so that they can have a shiny medal now.
      Of course, you can say "just let their stupid asses do it", but it often isn't the athlete's choice. Again, see the East German swim team: the women were fed 'vitamins', which were massive steroid doses. They didn't choose to, but their coaches/political masters wanted to win so bad they were willing to go that extra mile and destroy their athlete's bodies. If it is legal, you'll have unscrupulous coaches and countries the world over pumping their athletes full of chemicals for bragging rights. Well, more so than they do now.
    • ePuck, on 04/11/2008, -0/+2It is stupid to compare this to steroids. It is more along the lines of corking a bat or a pitcher using Vaseline
    • Krpano, on 04/12/2008, -0/+1They already use without consent....like most of the professional athletes.
  • veloscaper, on 04/11/2008, -2/+1The new suits come free with the performance enhancing designer drugs package. Gives a nice cover story to your new record breaking physical feats of strength and endurance. stonger faster better harder...
  • PoserDad, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1OK, I did not need to see a male camel-toe late on a friday..... or anytime.
    Thankfully I'm going home soon....... blah.
  • wubblie, on 04/11/2008, -0/+4If some guy entered with just regular swim trunks and won, that would be pretty bad ass.
    • ePuck, on 04/11/2008, -0/+3Yes, that would be tight. It would have to be a really short race though. Those things drag so much in the water.
  • aelias, on 04/11/2008, -1/+3Waaaah. Technology advances, people. Get used to it. Should they outlaw carbon fiber bicycle frames for the Tour De France? How about carbon fiber footwear for marathon runners? Teflon coated blades for speed skaters?
    I would support naked Olympic games as an equalizer, but, barring that, where could you possibly draw the line?
  • Ducttape38, on 04/11/2008, -1/+2Yeah, but can it prevent this?
    http://www.filedropper.com/images/funnykid.php
  • diggdiggerid, on 04/11/2008, -0/+2If they ban this they'd have to ban all swimsuits altogether because they all confer an unfair advantage. They would never be able to swim as fast naturally as they would using a special swimsuit, so all the records are artificial unless the swimmer is naked. This pretty much goes for every sport too. And then I don't know how they can talk about fairness because it would come down to genetics.
    • Kireblade, on 04/11/2008, -1/+0A nude Olympics would improve it to being only semi-yawn inducing!
  • BBoombastic, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1Doesn't leave much to the imagination, huh?
  • caponumen, on 04/11/2008, -3/+1Sorry, buried for references to: "Olympics, China"......
    • Kireblade, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1Be fair! Many of us are already too occupied with ignoring Iraq and Afghanistan.
  • KingVegas702, on 04/11/2008, -0/+3this is stupid. being a swimmer for all 4 years in high school seeing it saying 'technological doping' makes me sick. WHY!?...well it wasnt called tech doping when the speedo and jammers replaced regular shorts! or when swim caps were used? or when befor a swimming race we would shave all our body hair off?! im still using my arms and legs.... but with all those things....im faster...
    • mousky, on 04/12/2008, -1/+1But it is all those things that are making your faster; it has nothing to do with improved athletic ability. You train to the max and you can't beat your best record. You put on a state-of-the-art swimsuit and voila, you shaved a tenth of a second off your best time.
  • Kireblade, on 04/11/2008, -0/+0Sweet, the Olympic swim team is coached by Cartman.

    "How do I reach these keeeeeeeds..."
  • Javoo80123, on 04/11/2008, -0/+2Technology advances, this is true. However, this suit is clearly providing way too much of an advantage. Every sport has these sorts of controls- no corked baseball bats, tour-de-france bikes ARE regulated for weight and dimensions.

    Nobody would allow tennis shoes with springs. The motivation for allowing these suits is purely monetary- people expect WRs to be broken at the olympics and the lengths they are going too are clearly out of control.
    • bongle, on 04/11/2008, -1/+1But nobody is being hurt by the new suits, and they are ostensibly available for anyone to purchase. They only provide an advantage against those people too stupid to be wearing crappier suits. If I wear a jammer, I have an unfair advantage over someone who wears a pair of trunks to a race, but that doesn't matter because you'd have to be pretty dumb to wear trunks to a race when technology has clearly passed you by. They pass all the legality tests that FINA has to offer (which is like a bike passing all the Tour De France specs), so they are a legal suit. Obviously they haven't gone too far (or the rules don't go far enough, which I guess is your point).
      • mousky, on 04/12/2008, -0/+1But I though the Olympics were about the athletes, not the equipment? Swimming, like many other Olympic sports, has plateaued in terms of physical improvement. Most physical improvements are so negligible that some sports are having to go 1/1000ths of second to determine the 'winner'. Look at sports like bobsled or luge, where the top five, or even the top 10 may be less than a second apart.

        It seems the only way to break records is some radical improvement in equipment. Is that what really want the Olympics to be about?
        • bongle, on 04/12/2008, -1/+2But since everyone is going to be wearing these suits, then the Olympics will still be about who trained the hardest, who peaked at the right time, etc. So long as technology is equal among the competitors, you're still going to be seeing the best athletes in the world, and the one who wins will probably be the best athlete at the competition. They'll still be about the people. Basically, as long as everyone buys the suit, then there is no point to the suit existing and there is no effect of the suit existing (except to erase world records).
          How do you feel about the FINA change to the breaststroke rules since the last Olympics that allow a dolphin kick on entry? (if you're not a swimmer, the translation is that it makes breaststrokers slightly faster, and thus more likely to break WRs) Does that make it less about the people, and more about the rules? Should all sports freeze their rules now so that past world records will be equally impressive in the future?
          • mousky, on 04/12/2008, -0/+1Definitely it makes it less about the athletes and more about the rules, since it was the rule change, not athletic ability, that made it easier to break the world record.
  • dsunshine1, on 04/11/2008, -2/+3***** THE RIAA
  • charlietuna, on 04/11/2008, -0/+1I have the solution. This will help ratings and guarantee an level playing field.

    * All Athletes must compete naked. *
  • mousky, on 04/12/2008, -0/+1In other words, it's not improved skills that are breaking record, but technological breakthroughs in equipment that are breaking records.
  • cbroz91, on 04/12/2008, -3/+1Everyone who has said that the athletes should compete naked should be striped of their right to use the internet. You are adding nothing to this conversation except your perverted fantasies. For those of us who take swimming seriously, we would like to have a conversation without your pointless remarks. If you don't take swimming seriously, just move on the the video of the silly monkey.
  • HappyScrappy, on 04/12/2008, -0/+1This is the same stuff you see every 4 years. The US had advanced suits in the last olympics, and the olympics banned them because they thought it was undair only the US had them. This seemed odd at the time given that they didn't do the same for clap skates before.

    But anyway, it's been 4 years, anyone else could have developed them by now. So why ban them?
  • MarsSentinel, on 04/12/2008, -0/+1Katee Sackhoff + one of those suits + a sword + a Hello Kitty backpack = heaven!
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