Gary Hall Jr. shares his take on this topic.
Great quote from Gary, "I’m a guy that romanticized the sport of swimming being as simple as man versus the element of water. It used to be the swimmer in the suit, not the suit on the swimmer. How times have changed."
I'm disappointed that the recent tech suits seem to be changing the sport of swimming. The sheer number of records that fell this year shows the entire sport has changed. Having said that, though, progress changes everything. We are going to have to accept some things we don't like to get the things we want--like professionals in swimming and more publicity for the sport. Perhaps the tech suit is part of what's taking us in that direction.
I've never used a tech suit but don't begrudge anyone who wants to use them. I figure I've had my competitive heyday and (for me) now it's all just for fun.
Thanks for posting this. MR Lord's comments lower down the article are take on the issue of pemeable fabric, and how swimming should be ablut being "in the water" as oposed to "on the water".
Also interesting is the article chose to use Katijima's photo at the top in a LZR, as opposed to one of Phelps.
I have no doubt that if you had Gary Hall Jr of 1996, and put him in a LZR, he would be competitive with any current sprinter in the world. Comparing athletes of different era's is a difficult thing to do. I don't think these suits change the fact that the elite swimmers of today have put in the same level of commitment and hard work that swimmers of a bygone era put in - if not more.
Swimming has advanced out of a period in which it tended to be more Euro/Anglo-centric. It is truly a world-wide sport and the level of competition has risen in response. The suits still remain a component, not the defining part, of the talented swimmers of today.
