Japanese swimsuit makers race Speedo
May 13, 2008
TOKYO (AFP) — A Japanese fabric maker says it has the secret to make the world's fastest-ever swimsuit as the country races against time to catch Speedo's high-tech, record-breaking LZR Racer suit.
Japan's Olympic swimmers, obliged to wear their own country's products, have been in uproar over the LZR Racer, going as far as to liken its use to doping because of the advantage it gives wearers.
Now Japan's Yamamoto Corp., which has supplied a super-fast synthetic rubber fabric to wetsuit makers around the world, has come to the rescue with the Olympic Games just three months away.
The company has offered material, called the Biorubber Swim-SCS Fabric, to challenge Britain's Speedo, saying it is the "the world's fastest swimwear material."
"The decision is not aimed at all at business. It's aimed at helping Japanese swimmers fight to their heart's content in fair conditions at the Beijing Olympics," said the company's president, Tomizo Yamamoto.
The rubber maker said it has sent samples to Japan's three main sporting attire makers -- Mizuno, Asics and Descente. The Japan Swimming Federation has given the three until May 30 to come up with an upgrade to counter Speedo.
The federation requires its swimmers, who include Olympic breaststroke champion Kosuke Kitajima, only to wear products by one of the three companies.
Yamamoto's fabric is coated with synthetic rubber that absorbs water molecules into its honeycomb surface, unlike most other materials which repel them. Its surface is smoothed out with water molecules to minimise frictional resistance.
Japan has set a goal of winning a total of five medals at the Olympics in August across all disciplines, including in the pool.
But Japanese swimmers have been alarmed by the LZR Racer since its debut in February, with the suit accounting for 18 of the 19 new world records since then.
"We want to erase fears among the swimmers. We have requested the three companies to match Speedo," said Kazuo Sano, the swimming federation's executive director.
Tomiaki Fukuda, chief of the Japanese delegation to the Beijing Games, lashed out at other sports leaders for limiting the choice to Japanese brands.
"Why can't we use the (Speedo) swimsuit when we know it's fast," Fukuda shouted at a recent meeting, according to media reports.
Yamamoto said its Biorubber fabric has already been used, primarily for triathlon events.
In October, swimwear by New Zealand brand Blue Seventy which used the fabric was approved by the international swimming federation FINA for its official meets, he said.
Other suit makers, including Xterra of the United States, Australia's 2XU, Aquaman of France and New Zealand's Orca have also adopted the material, Yamamoto said.
Five collegiate swimmers at Japan's Kansai University shaved their times by 1.0-2.0 seconds in 50 metres after switching to the Biorubber Swim fabric, he said.
The LZR Racer was developed with the help of the US space agency NASA. It uses a high-tech fabric of water-resistant polyurethane and is structured to squeeze the swimmer's body into the right posture.
FINA endorsed its use last month.
When Japanese Olympic swimmers tested the LRZ Racer last month, one of them improved his time for the first 15 metres by 0.7 seconds, said swimming federation official Norimasa Hirai.
"I can imagine that in general the (Speedo) product means a difference of 0.5 seconds over 100 metres and one second over 200 metres," Hirai said.
All three Japanese makers said they would consider the Yamamoto fabric.
"Yamamoto's is one of our options," said Mizuno spokesman Fumihiko Sawai. "We are definitely prepared to produce the best available."
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Hey Chris
The reason why I thought the the purported “reduced surface drag” feature of tech suits was the only issue was because of all the hype Speedo gave to its FastSkin (remember those artificial shark skin denticles?) and earlier products from other suit makers.
I (and others) knew we were being fed a bunch of baloney about the claim that the suit's material had a coefficient of surface drag that was lower than bare skin and the suit makers were in fact actually using them to reduce “form drag” by altering the swimmer’s body through compression –IE- the corset effect. :confused:
However, isn't body compression a blatant example of the mechanized approach to compensate for the lack of an optimum physique for swimming and muscle development? Humans aren't natuarally designed for swimming so isn't some deformation of the body by water flowing around it just part of the territory that we should just have to live with? :shakeshead:
In essence, suit technology is nothing more than a dumbed down approach to transforming an inferior swimmer into a superior swimmer by artificial means instead of the rather mundane idea of working out. :shakeshead:
Just read the newspapers and it’s obvious that today’s high performing athletes are now becoming the product of chemical and mechanical enhancements. In the academic world, they refer to this as the “Cheat Sheet” approach and why is it considered an honorable achievement in the sports field? :dunno:
So where is FINA going to draw the line on this suit technology stuff –if they are going to draw any at all? At some point, all the WRs earned by wearing the "latest, greatest techy suit are going to become virtually worthless (and modern swimming will be nothing but a subject of mockery in MAD Magazine) except for all the money and publicity the suit makers have raked in. :notworking:
Dolphin 2
Hey Chris
The reason why I thought the the purported “reduced surface drag” feature of tech suits was the only issue was because of all the hype Speedo gave to its FastSkin (remember those artificial shark skin denticles?) and earlier products from other suit makers.
I (and others) knew we were being fed a bunch of baloney about the claim that the suit's material had a coefficient of surface drag that was lower than bare skin and the suit makers were in fact actually using them to reduce “form drag” by altering the swimmer’s body through compression –IE- the corset effect. :confused:
However, isn't body compression a blatant example of the mechanized approach to compensate for the lack of an optimum physique for swimming and muscle development? Humans aren't natuarally designed for swimming so isn't some deformation of the body by water flowing around it just part of the territory that we should just have to live with? :shakeshead:
In essence, suit technology is nothing more than a dumbed down approach to transforming an inferior swimmer into a superior swimmer by artificial means instead of the rather mundane idea of working out. :shakeshead:
Just read the newspapers and it’s obvious that today’s high performing athletes are now becoming the product of chemical and mechanical enhancements. In the academic world, they refer to this as the “Cheat Sheet” approach and why is it considered an honorable achievement in the sports field? :dunno:
So where is FINA going to draw the line on this suit technology stuff –if they are going to draw any at all? At some point, all the WRs earned by wearing the "latest, greatest techy suit are going to become virtually worthless (and modern swimming will be nothing but a subject of mockery in MAD Magazine) except for all the money and publicity the suit makers have raked in. :notworking:
Dolphin 2
