THE sport of swimming is facing a high-tech crisis. In 2008, a staggering 108 world records were broken in the pool, 79 of them by swimmers wearing a cutting-edge Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit.
FINA, swimming’s governing body, met 16 manufacturers, including Speedo, at the weekend and will make some changes to swimsuits’ advantageous design next month.
Duncan Goodhew, one of Britain’s most successful swimmers from the good old days (not to mention one of our most beloved slapheads), has called for high-tech suits to be banned completely.
“It is quite clear that when swimmers cover themselves in material they believe it will make them swim faster - they believe it’s a swimming aid. That breaks FINA’s rules already,” Goodhew said this week.
He has a point but it’s very difficult to put the genie back in the bottle. Speedo is a company first and they sell their ultra-modern suits on the back of the considerable success of the likes of bong-toting Olympian Michael Phelps. And there’s little doubt that Speedo is lobbying FINA hard to maintain the status quo.
Of course, there is a simple solution to the question of performance-enhancing suits, although it’s not one that Speedo is going to like: swim naked, as nature intended.
Not only would that get rid of any argument about the benefit of modern swimsuits - although you’d have to reset all world records - but it would surely give the sport’s TV ratings a massive boost in the arm.
We’d watch it, anyway.
Posted: 24th, February 2009 | In: Sports Comments (7) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
February 26th, 2009 at 10:46 am
…it’s swimwear, but not as we know it….
February 26th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Spock? Is that really you
February 26th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Considering the skimpiness of some swimwear it seems to me eminently logical that competitive swimmers should swim naked. The human body is beautiful anyway, while the bodies of superfit athletes are all the more so. Such a revolution would no doubt vastly enhance the interest initially, but as time went on it would be as accepted as manufactured swimwear.
February 24th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
you might find, Yampster, that there would be a sudden upsurge in viewing figures if the swimmers suddenly competed au naturel - I think there is probably a market for unfettered dangly bits! … and most of those people would give a toss about the hydrodynamics.!!
waterproof body paint anyone…?
February 24th, 2009 at 11:04 am
I think Justlooking has the right idea.Otherwise, where do we stop with this? Team GB have just won a gold at the Bobsleigh World Championships. For years we came nowhere in this, because the Germans were using state of the art bobs and ours were still being knocked up by Ted and his mate in his shed (Not sheds again!). No one suggested that the East Germans were cheating, although they probably were. It was just suggested that we replace Ted technology, which we have. Where would we be in world cycling if the rules still specified cane rims. If the technology is there, use it. If your sponsor hasn’t got it, change your sponsor.
February 24th, 2009 at 9:40 am
If the obvious solution of putting everyone in the same suit is too simple, swimming naked is the best alternative. I think we should do away with time based racing; freaky long feet /body hair etc are unfair variables. Instead, we should score the naked competitors for make-up & artistic merit - a bit like synchro .
February 24th, 2009 at 9:37 am
I can’t see how swimming naked would help, all those unfettered dangly bits disturbing the hydrodynamics. However, in the interests of science I am willing to give it an airing. Incidentally, I am sure that those bikinis they wear in Beach Volleyball somehow confer an advantage and all that time wasted pulling them out of taut suntanned sandy bottoms after every point. Surely they could……………
Oops! I think my brain has burst…………………………..