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 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.
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.
