The largest and most visible swim suits at Trials was the Speedo FST II, Speedo is an official US Olympic team sponsor and thus had an inside advantage.
But surprisingly Nike had several make the team as did TYR.
I am not sure if amy other suit maker placed swimmers on the team.
The biggest talk in the stands was how the swimmers did NOT like the new Speedo suits. Most men staid away from the Speedo Fastskin II full body suit. Phelps would wear the full jammers, but did not wear the restrictive full body suit.
More men with full body suits wore the TRY, while Nike had several World Records set in their mens Jammer suits.
Gary Hall was wearing an Arena Powerskin, which is actually a very fine suit. He was also wearing an Everlast custom terrycloth robe before the 100 free, and an Everlast, Apollo Creed style, satin stars and stripes boxing robe before the 50 free. What a character!!
Although the NIKE suits were being worn, there were serious questions about the quality. They looked like they were ripping a lot.
Aaron Piersol showed up for his first preliminary swim in the 100 backstroke wearing a brand new NIKE jammer. It was ripped on both hips, and one hole grew visibly when he raced. Sad to say, but NIKE has established a long and healthy tradition of fall-apart swim products. Perhaps that's why a few of the swimmers went so fast wearing NIKE -- after they fell apart, it was practically like swimming naked!
The attached photo came from Swiminfo.com
It was in the Press-Telegram paper in Long Beach that Aaron right before that race put his thumb through his suit. He said he didn't pack an extra suit that day. Lesson learned why to always bring an extra suit to competition. However, the fact that he could so easily rip a suit lends credibility that it might not be the most durable of suits.
One interesting thing that I noticed was the type of suit used per type of final. For example, freestyle heats often had full body or the sleeveless full body, whereas backstroke had a lot of jammers. I was wondering, is there testing of the suits that shows for a type of swim (i.e., freestyle, backstroke, fly, ***), a certain type of suit (jammers, full body, etc.) is best for each one???
He was also wearing an Everlast custom terrycloth robe before the 100 free, and an Everlast, Apollo Creed style, satin stars and stripes boxing robe before the 50 free. What a character!!
Gary's change from the black terrycloth robe to the Apollo Creed style was very cool and stylish. When he first came out in the black robe, I thought of Steve Lundquist who in Los Angeles 1984 came out in a very hot day in a black parka, black mittens and black boots. Every thing Steve did had a purpose, and all swimmers would be better off if they studied Steve's quirks.
By wearing black, he kept his muscles ready for the sprint 100 meters breaststroke, sort of like Mike Tyson in his prime. Mike Tyson always came out dripping sweat, while his opponents always seemed to be cool and dry. But a warmed up muscle produces 50% more power than a cool muscle. These two athletes in two different sports both knew the same thing, and oftem one in the first few seconds!
Not sure why we're diverting this thread to discussion about Steve Lundquist. Let's get back to the original topic.
My NIKE lycras have all consistently fallen apart in three weeks. I had a first generation NIKE torso suit a few years ago, and it fell apart during the first meet. It zipped up the front, and the zipper went ::BOING:: during a 50. Another swimmer at the same meet had the same problem.
I have worn Aquablades, Fastskins, the Victor Millennium, and the Arena Powerskin. Just got a new Speedo FS2, and it looks like a great suit. I can't wait to race in it. A majority of the swimmers who made the US Olympic Team wore Speedo suits in the finals -- most of those were FS2 suits.
Two swimmers who made the team wearing TYR were Larsen Jensen and Erik Vendt...
Most of those swimmers got free suits to wear or are on contract with speedo so the fact that lots wore a speedo doesn't mean it's the best. I wear an Arena powerskin and love it. I've also worn a victor and like it almost as much as the Arena. I'm not inclined to pay what the new speedo costs since I'm happy with what I have.
99% of the swimmers were given many many new suits.
I sat outside every day in the TYR area, I believe they had three men and a woman make the team.
Because Speedo is the Official Sponsor of the Olympics, and they had the most money to throw arround, the swimmers wore their suits the most. The swimmers also got bags, towels and hundreds of dollars worth of stuff. Each swimmers got dozens of suits.
In fact there was rumors that some of the free suits were showing up on eBay. These were the suits that were not released to the public yet!
