I am just back from the SPMA meet where all the top finisher were wearing the latest generation tech suits,mostly B-70s(or were named Jeff Commings.)I have here to for been in favor of the suits,but now I am not so sure.First,they eliminate the old bench marks.I went my fastest 100m BR in 5 yr in my LZR,but it was only .3 sec faster than I did untapered 5 wk earlier in my first swim in the LZR.So was my swim good or not,I'm not sure.Also,instead of focusing on technique or pace I found myself ruminating over aspects of the suits,how many more swims did the suit have,is it the right size,was the reason I didn't get better results from my B-70 because it was too big?etc.The B-70 has somewhat mitigated the "too expensive,not durable" problem,but for how long.
Lets say a company comes up with a suit that is much faster,say 4 sec/100.Further that it is very expensive(say $1000) lasts 4 swims and is very hard to make so that quantities are always limited and the fastest way to get one is to bid up to $3000 on ebay. Now lets say your nemesis has one,or that getting one is your best chance to get TT or AA or a ZR or WR,or that your child is close to making JO cuts,or finally beating his/her nemesis etc. Is it worth it and where does it stop?
Former Member
As long as we are talking about "the girls," it should be noted the suits also keep "the gents" well in place. I will be banned momentarily, nice knowing you all.
"lift and separate" are not always good.
It's simply a mute point, just as many of us have pointed out here if your a top level athlete you don't show up to a major race not ready to race and not trying to make some purist statment by not using approved equipment...as Geek said I haven't seen to many steel TT bikes at the Tour de France with the riders complaining afterwards that they were cheated.
Exactly. If someone is fast, and has dedicated a lot of time and effort to training and competing in meets over many years, why isn't that person a "purist"? You can't be a purist if you like tech suits and technological advancement? You can only be a purist if you're almost naked?
Maybe some swim federations are pissed off at paying so many bonuses for WRs? If so, won't this level off?
The suits have brought increased excitement, exposure and revenue to the sport. I hope they're here to stay.
I know, for me, that any suit that holds "the girls" in, nice and tight, is a definite help!
:bliss:
The suit gives me a boy's physique causing me to consider going out and buying some "girls." :bitching:
Although no one is more of a Luddite than I am, I just don't see the problem here.
1) The idea that swimming or any sport is truly egalitarian is, at best, a fantasy. There is no equality in swimming. People with more money generally get better facilities, coaches, etc and it's the same in most sports. If you want an egalitarian sport, try racewalking - all you need is basic shoes (I know a guy who made 2 Olympic teams wearing Hush Puppies), shorts, sox, and a t-shirt.
2) Tech suits offer no mechanical leverage advantage (as do, say hand paddles). They are passive in that they reduce drag; not add propulsion.
3) Almost all sports have embraced technological change that has allowed them to change in fundamental ways. Why should swimming be different?
4) You have a choice not to participate by getting a tech suit. For example, I swim lots of open water races and will NOT wear a wetsuit. My choice and if I miss a medal because of it, so what? I've got a crate of them anyway. Besides, it allows me to wallow in my moral superiority and general studliness.
Thought experiment: Suppose that a swim suit is developed that is the ULTIMATE in passive technology - i.e. it reduces drag and enhances compression as far as it can go without adding any mechanical leverage advantages. Furthermore, suppose that it costs about as much as the average pair of lycra jammers. This means that most people can afford one and no one has a technological advantage. At this point it comes back to who wants it the most, trains the hardest and competes the hardest. Admittedly, this assumes that there is an ultimate point, but the historical reality is that this is exactly what has happened to a lesser (non-ultimate)degree with the intoduction of briefs, lycra, etc. Therefore, the introduction of improved tech suits is merely a more advanced part of the curve that has been happening all along.
And for the record, people who wear wetsuits are in the same category as those who beat their dogs and don't brush their teeth. :afraid:
-LBJ
Hmmm, to play the devil's advocate:
-- some say that the latest suits provide some buoyancy, giving a mechanical advantage
-- how does anything you say in support of tech suits, not also apply to wetsuits? It seems inconsistent to me to say that tech suits are okay but wetsuits are not.
Furthermore, I strongly suspect there is some kind of influence going on behind the scenes where the suit makers are urging publically funded colleges and school districts to buy these expensive suits. The last thing the failing public school system needs is more corporate influence from the sports/atheltic community.
One thing for sure, this suit fad has turned out to be an excellent marketing tool for the suit makers and as P.T. Barnum once said "There's a sucker born every minute".
Dolphin 2
You must be a prime example of the P.T. Barnum quote. You really have proved that you don't read,study, know anything about the sport of swimming. If you did, you wouldn't have made you dumb statement about colleges and school districts buying suits.
One of the biggest concerns among people is how the majority of colleges will be able to afford suits in their budgets, if they decide to get the latest brand.
School districts don't buy the suits. Most swim teams to raise the majority of their funds for competition suits. School districts provide a small stipend but they certainly aren't buying high tech suits for high school/middle school teams.
QUOTE=CreamPuff;171321]Lucky!
Unfortunately for others such as myself, these suits make us look like the Michelan Man (of questionable gender) on steroids. :roids::afraid:
:eek: :eek:
Felicity Galvez is poster girl for super suit debacle
"Swimming Australia has urged FINA to ban the practice of swimmers wearing multiple suits to gain an advantage, and pushed for zippered suits to be outlawed."
I feel like a biker. They blow their tire and are out of the race. I blow my suit and I'm out. Can't say I like that.
A bad night of sleep, a bad cold, the stomach bug, a missed taper will all have greater impact on a meet than a suit but I guess it's easier to whine about the suits since the other maladies come free of charge.
Dolphin 2- I'm not making any kind of a judgment here, but I am wondering why are you opposed to the companies making money who make the suits? Who should make the money? While our country is obviously heading toward socialism (which I find terrifying) it's not here yet.
I don't know what you do for a living, if anything, but I dare say that not too many people go to work every day out of the goodness of their hearts, they do it for a paycheck. Why would companies who make suits be any different?
I'm not opposed to the companies raking in the $$$ on these new suits. However, I'm amused by the naïveté of the people who are willing to spend several hundred dollars to buy one of them. It's almost like the sub prime mortgage crisis -only we're dealing with a much smaller amount of money.
Furthermore, I strongly suspect there is some kind of influence going on behind the scenes where the suit makers are urging publically funded colleges and school districts to buy these expensive suits. The last thing the failing public school system needs is more corporate influence from the sports/atheltic community.
One thing for sure, this suit fad has turned out to be an excellent marketing tool for the suit makers and as P.T. Barnum once said "There's a sucker born every minute".
Dolphin 2
