SPORTS

Making a Splash

Speedo's new and controversial high-tech LZR suit is helping swimmers smash dozens of records. How the company plans to capitalize on Olympic gold.

By Keith Naughton | NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Jun 30, 2008

« Return to Article

Discuss

Member Comments

  • Posted By: b939625 @ 08/01/2008 6:30:10 PM

    The suit is like any other equipment used by athletes. Might as well give a baseball players a old stick found in the woods, a runner must only use his/her bare feet, a boat rower must use a all wood boat (no faberglass or composites), tennis players they must use a wooden racket, and archery u must use a old longbow. I can go on and on about equipment that helps out a athlete. So drop the issue and let Phelps destroy every swimming record out there. They are made to be broken.

  • Posted By: Old Lou @ 07/25/2008 11:08:11 AM

    To make it fair, athletes should compete naked. Like in the good old days..

    • Posted By: ghostmasseur @ 07/25/2008 4:23:43 PM

      I second that idea.

      Only use what was used in ancient Greece.

      • Posted By: b939625 @ 08/01/2008 6:19:42 PM

        If you wanted the rules to be fron Ancients games than you are going to have to eliminate multiple different sports from the olympic game and men wrestle completely naked (did alot of the sports naked), but I guess thats what you want.

    • Posted By: RobPonzi @ 07/27/2008 8:23:30 PM

      I think there would be an unfair advantage against those with more, um, drag.

  • Posted By: caitygirl120 @ 08/01/2008 6:07:51 PM

    @ rob P. the OLYMPIC swimmers wearing suites should tap into their olympic fund and buy some LZR's there is no unfair advantage...just less seams..

  • Posted By: thedroid @ 08/01/2008 6:04:01 PM

    i THINK IT IS AWESOME!! AND YES I'M YELLING ABOUT IT. While some may say that the Olympics Games are about physical strength, training and endurance, I believe it is also about the mind and how we use it to get ahead competitively. After all, don't these swimmmers shave every square inch to reduce drag? maybe that should be discontinued too. If the truth were to be known Speedo just got wise and figured out that the
    large suit gave them more surface area for their marketing efforts! Since we will do anything to win, just the thought that they may go faster may just give the swimmer the mental advantage before they get on the starting line. On the other hand they may be a big belly flop and you will never see them again. Ain't life grand.
    Thedroid

  • Posted By: landofahhs @ 07/15/2008 5:00:46 PM

    Hmm....a mustache grows on a mans face naturally...LZR body suits are manufactured, purchased or supplied via Speedo for obvious capital gain and gives swimmers an obvious advantage...quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, must be a duck (i.e.technical/physical assistance) ...can be confused with or inferred as 'cheating' unless EVERYONE has the same advantage. LZR should be banded unless available to all.

    • Posted By: bonsaiman75 @ 08/01/2008 12:57:38 AM

      Last I checked all suits are manufactured, purchased or supplied for obvious capital gain. I am a swimmer and I would buy and use the LRZ if I had the chance. How does a swimsuit differ from any other peice of clothing or equipment in any other sport. If it changes the sport, then I think it is a wonderfull thing. I would rather see them wearing a suit than using enhancement drugs.

    • Posted By: sdv2336 @ 07/17/2008 5:41:36 PM

      Have the other swimmers been blocked from purchasing or using the LZR suits? If not, then I don't see how they're not "available to all."

    • Posted By: sdv2336 @ 07/17/2008 5:40:29 PM

      Have other swimmers been blocked from wearing the LZR? If not, then I don't see how they're not "available to all."

  • Posted By: archmsu @ 07/27/2008 5:14:27 PM

    Cheaters.................

    • Posted By: ghostmasseur @ 07/28/2008 3:43:00 PM

      How exactly? If the suits are avaialbe to all atheletes, then that comment is invalid.

  • Posted By: fast phil @ 07/22/2008 5:52:09 PM

    Modification of the suits should not be permitted as all prior records have been established without
    this advantage. How can the athletes compare their times against all other records to guage them-
    selves ? In 2012 if it is proven that having flubber on the heels of your shoes will make you jump higher
    think what it will do for the longjump records .

    • Posted By: ghostmasseur @ 07/25/2008 10:18:42 AM

      fast phil,

      Since many of the records were set before the advent of newer training methods maybe those shoudl be bannned too. Sorry but your arguement is flawed. The suits worn in the 1970's were different than those in the 1950's. As technology changes, new records are set and the sport advances.

      There have been advances in the shoes that runners wear. Should all runners be required to run barefoot?

  • Posted By: ymorgan @ 07/24/2008 5:34:07 PM

    A technical note from the first paragraph, you don't do a flip turn in 100m butterfly...not a big deal to non-swimmers I'm sure, but any 10 yr. old competetive swimmer would know, so the editor might want to correct that. (P.S. In butterfly and breast, swimmers use open turns.)

  • Posted By: ymorgan @ 07/24/2008 5:33:31 PM

    A technical note from the first paragraph, you don't do a flip turn in 100m butterfly...not a big deal to non-swimmers I'm sure, but any 10 yr. old competetive swimmer would know, so the editor might want to correct that. (P.S. In butterfly and breast, swimmers use open turns.)

  • Posted By: pilbi @ 07/21/2008 7:07:16 AM

    The point is not wheather or not the suit is going to make anyone wearing it to be the fastest, but that it gives people wearing it an advantage against others with nothing more but their -natural- skin.
    Should it be legal that the water slipping across your body runs faster because you wear a space-era suit? that is the question we gotta answer.

  • Posted By: tarkay1 @ 07/20/2008 6:15:40 PM

    After reading many post on here, it has become clear to me, that if so many are worried about it being a so enhancing and cheating, then I would guess that the gold, silver and bronze medal winners will all be wearing these suits. Furthermore has any of his teammates that also wear the suits been able to beat him ? I have to agree that it is not the suit that makes the athlete it is the person that makes the athlete.

  • Posted By: K.I.S.S. @ 07/20/2008 5:41:54 PM

    According to an Article I read, this swimsuit improves the swimmers breathing. The panels decrease the effort of breathing while swimming, thus increasing endurance. The suit reduces drag, allowing an increase in swim speed. And here I thought the Olympics were all about Physical Capability. I am all for improvements and the breaking of World Records. This however, is a case of the Clothing making the Record Breaker, not the Person being the Record Breaker, or so it appears to me. I could be wrong though.

    • Posted By: tarkay1 @ 07/20/2008 6:11:33 PM

      Well I've been reading all these post, and it became clear to me, IF these suit make a person so much better then I guess we should expect the gold, silver and bronze medalist to all be wearing one of these suites ? My point here is that even other athletes that are wearing these suites are not able to beat Mr. Phelps, so I would have to agree with the other people posting he is an amazing athlete.

  • Posted By: jen313 @ 07/17/2008 2:39:32 PM

    If I were to put on one of these suits and hop into a pool I seriously doubt that I will magically gain super swimming powers and start breaking records left and right. These swimmers train everyday, eat right, and workout with specialist to perfect their bodies for swimming. Add that in with their natural abilities to be great swimmers and you are going to see new records. It happens every year at the olypics, old records fall and are replaced with new ones. It happened four years ago without the suit so naturally it is happening again. It's what these people train to do. It's not a swimsuit that makes the swimmer, it's the athlete!!!

  • Posted By: Hatebeingrightallthetime @ 07/16/2008 3:01:46 AM

    Forget about the mustache analogy. What about skis, skates, downhill suits and aerodynamic helmets and poles etc...As long as there are losers there will be finger pointing whiners. It's the nature of sports. If a swimsuit (freakin apparell) kicked your butt at the Olympics and that's gonna be your excuse when you lose then walk away now pouty boy. That's just pathetic and so is the idea of banning a suit. Grow up soon o.k.

  • Posted By: scanerboy @ 07/09/2008 2:33:45 PM

    These suits are nothing more than external dopeing. Perhaps by the 2012 Olympics swim fins will be allowed. Just legalized cheating. I for one will not be watching the swimming this year. Where have all of the REAL athletes gone.

    • Posted By: jane.simpson.wilson @ 07/11/2008 6:48:18 PM

      One more note. Mark Spitz chose to wear a mustache when he swam in the Olympics because he believed that it kept more water out of his mouth as he made a very shallow breath when he swam. I guess you could call the mustache tech doping as well. DURP.

      • Posted By: HiFiRo @ 07/13/2008 2:40:54 PM

        Posted By: jane.simpson.wilson @ 07/11/2008 18:48:18
        Comment: One more note. Mark Spitz chose to wear a mustache when he swam in the Olympics because he believed that it kept more water out of his mouth as he made a very shallow breath when he swam. I guess you could call the mustache tech doping as well. DURP.

        *Sigh* What idiot allowed your parents to reproduce????????

    • Posted By: jane.simpson.wilson @ 07/11/2008 6:49:37 PM

      Oh, and one more thing, Mark Spitz wore a mustache when he competed because he believe that it helped him breathe better and have less water enter his lungs. I guess the mustache was tech doping too. DURP.

    • Posted By: jane.simpson.wilson @ 07/11/2008 6:46:33 PM

      Oh, and one more thing, Mark Spitz wore a mustache when he competed because he believe that it helped him breathe better and have less water enter his lungs. I guess the mustache was tech doping too. DURP.

    • Posted By: jane.simpson.wilson @ 07/11/2008 12:34:16 PM

      Grow up. I guess they should not have let Steve Prefontaine wear Nike's back in the day either, because they were New running technology. it is not the suit, it is the athelete. Given your logic, we could put the new suit on you and you would beat Phelps. Not. I even believe that if you could run a program on a computer with Phelps in the new suit and Champion Mark Spitz, the mustachioed champ would be buried by the most excellent Mr. Phelps, he's a fish. So whine and cry all you want, the suit stays and you lose by not watching some of the most exciting swimming the past half-century. We are Not talking swim fins, we are talking about bathing suits. Again, grow up, there is no such thing as "external doping". You can either swim fast or faster.

    • Posted By: ghostmasseur @ 07/11/2008 9:34:31 AM

      Actually they are not external doping. Just as technological advances have changed the way that archery, riflery, running, and other sports are played (it is called the evolution of the game) so too are changes in swinsiuit technology. If you are going to whine about the suit, then make the athletes go back to the original ways of competing... in the nude. That way it is a guaranteee to be only the athletes.

      And the idea that using these suits makes the swimmers any less real atheletes, is absurd. LEt's see you even get a quarter length compared to these swimmers.

  • Posted By: scanerboy @ 07/09/2008 2:31:52 PM

    These suits are nothing more than external dopeing and should be banned. I will not be watching swimming at all. Perhaps swim fins will be allowed for the 2012 olympics. Where in hell have the REAL athletes gone. Just a little more (legal) cheating.

  • Posted By: kios123 @ 07/08/2008 10:29:20 AM

    it is like steroids but in suits and i a m against

  • Posted By: popler @ 07/08/2008 10:32:21 AM

    high tech speedows are awesome

  • Posted By: qazxcv @ 07/08/2008 10:31:46 AM

    I'm with it because ... yeah you go faster and win (maybe) but yeah you should have some thing that helps you out

  • Posted By: Natterboo8408 @ 07/08/2008 10:31:24 AM

    i think swimmers should wear speedo's because it make them swim faster in the water and if they want to win they need to go faster.

Reply

Report Abuse

Enter comments if any for reporting abuse