Saturday, June 14, 2008

Swimming "downhill"


In time for the Beijing Olympics, Speedo introduced a new swim suit in February 2008. The LZR swimsuit is a technological wonder – a high-tech light and strong fabric that molds the swimmers body to improve ‘shape’, has no seams, and greatly reduces drag – that has caused controversy for allegedly giving its users a technological advantage. However it has been approved by the sport’s governing body (FINA - the Fédération Internationale de Natation) and is being widely used e.g. of 42 world records set since February 38 have been by swimmers using the LZR. Other swimwear manufacturers are being forced to go back to the drawing board, while swimmers on national teams that can not use Speedos (for example, due to national contracts with other swimwear manufacturers e.g. the Japanese and German swimmers…) are in revolt…

"Tech doping"? How Speedo's LZR suit breaks swim records
How the Speedo LZR swim suit works

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