When the issue of ‘speedy’ swimsuits comes up, Don Bradman’s answer to the question of whether athletes of later generations were as good as those of his own era comes to mind.
“Look at swimming,” he would argue. “The times are getting faster but the the water isn’t getting any faster.”
Actually, this is not correct. And Don Bradman’s ‘mistake’ goes to the heart of the controversy over modern swimsuit technology.
Competition swimming pools are much faster than they were in Bradman’s day. Wave-reduction technology and many other improvements have created ‘fast’ pools. As well, a similar improvement in the technology of swimming gear has created faster swimsuits.
Everyone swims in the same pool. But not everyone has access to the fast swimsuits. This is the crux of the argument against the new hi-tech swim wear.
There is also the issue of whether, even under the IOC rules, these fast swimsuits really comply with the regulations about buoyancy and the ‘allowable’ help swimmers can get from their costumes to help them go faster through the water.
Last weekend the Sunday Telegraph had an interesting article in which Murray Rose, one of Australia’s greatest Olympic swimmers, questions the legitimacy of Speedo’s new LZR Racer costume after three world records were posted by swimmers using the suit in the past month.
In Rose’s day swimmers didn’t even use goggles. The women wore caps, presumably to cut back on the drag of their hair. The parts of the body directly exposed to the water (except for the head for men) were shaved. The costumes were made of nylon. And that was about it. It didn’t really matter where a swimmer came from and what access they had to the latest swimming technology. Everyone, more or less, had the same swim wear.
The contest was between swimmers. It was not a contest between technological improvements to costumes. Because the contest was between the swimmers, the Olympic ideals of higher, faster, and longer were honoured.
Where will the technological improvements end? What about the use of gloves? Or special socks? Does the IOC want future Olympic swimming tournaments to become high-tech contests like the America’s Cup or Formula One motor racing?
The only solution, in my view, is to enforce the IOC’s rules on costumes so that someone using a particular suit does not get a significant advantage over their rivals. This means, I would argue, banning the speedy suits.
But is this the answer? Or should it be more a case of ‘anything goes’ as far as new technology in swim wear is concerned?
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