Hello, friends,
I've been wondering where to post this message, so I might as well start here.
There is a lot of talk about records broken in the tech suit era and some people want asterisks on those records.
But no one talks about the suit which Thorpe wore in the 2000 Olympics. It sure looks like a wetsuit to me:
media.olympics.com.au/.../20100707_101809625_ian_thorpe_wins_400m_20001.jpg
Why aren't his victories and records tainted by the use of this suit?
Does the rule change about suits help explain why he was unsuccessful in his comeback attempt?
Any thoughts?
Wait a minute, here. Are you saying that at one time backstroke flags weren't standard in competition or was this just at the pool where you trained? I never even thought of this. I assumed backstroke flags have been used in competition forever!
I think if the suits were still around his "come back" would have been just as unsuccessful. His failure to earn his spot was probably timing, level of conditioning, and Australian media pressure
The Aussies have some great swimmers, with our infinite wisdom from 20/20 hindsite indicates Thorpe might not have stayed as fit as he could have during his retirement and he probably started his comeback too late & probably would have benefitted from beginning his comeback 6, 9, 12, 18 or 24 months sooner.
As far as the suits go, in 2000, Thorpe competed in a full body suit that went from wrist to ankle, think it was an addidas suit. somewhere I read or heard he wore another suit beneath his competition suit but have no proof.
(suit stacking)
At the 2008 pelligrini wore 2 suits in the finals of her 2 fr Pic after race
There were many generations of body suits, each offering benefits and improvements and right when a new generation lauched was a prime opportunity to break records. The swimming community was most alarmed by the last 2 generations of suits, when rubber coated suits came out, (2007 to 2008) Swimmers seemed to break more records & win more races in LZRs, Jakeds & Arena suits. Those suits offered floatation, compression, and a better surface than skin they were last worn LCM in the 2009 Worlds in Rome & Dec 2009 for SCM at Dual in the Pool in the UK.
Compare world rankings mens & womens 100 FR LCM
from 2000 to 2012 look at what it took to rank
1st, 10th, 25th, 50th 75th & 100th in the world
FINA Swimming World Rankings
2000 FS 1
01 48.18
10 49.68
25 51.74
2004 FS II
01 48.17
10 49.08
25 49.73
2005
01 48.12
10 49.28
25 49.95
2006
01 48.57
10 49.09
25 49.72
2007 Speedo Pro
01 47.91
10 48.72
25 49.35
2008 LZR (there was quite a drop when LZRs came out)
01 47.05
10 47.77
25 48.43
2009 LZR Jaked Arena
01 46.91
10 47.78
25 48.37
2010 back to Jammers
(then a significant increase when they went away)
01 47.98
10 48.54
25 48.83
2011
01 47.49
10 48.24
25 48.69
2012
01 47.10
10 48.19
25 48.58
Some swimmers and strokes were slow to wear full body suits even in 2009 Aaron Piersol broke WRs wearing a legskin.
Breastrokers seemed to be the last to go full body in 2008, some choosing jammers or legskins
