For swimsuit makers around the world, the Olympics have already begun.
Roughly two months before the Beijing Summer Games, swimwear makers in Japan, Germany, Italy and elsewhere have been struggling furiously to come up with new designs — or risk having their sponsored swimmers break their contracts.
More swim scandals The new Speedo swimsuits are just the latest controversy to hit the pool deck. Last summer, the hottest story was U.S. star Amanda Beard deciding to pose for Playboy. We revisit that scandal in our own Amanda Beard pictorial through the years. Check it out HERE. The reason: Swimmers wearing a new swimsuit by Speedo, called the LZR Racer, have broken 38 world records since its introduction in February. Whether that number is truly remarkable is a matter of debate, given Speedo's commanding market share and the long history of world records getting broken in the runup to the Olympics. But the current perception of the new suit has created insecurity among swimmers sponsored by other brands.
That decision followed a swim meet in Tokyo where Japanese swimmers broke 17 national records — including one world record — and all but one of them were by swimmers wearing the new Speedo suit.
Japan's top swimmer, Kosuke Kitajima, shattered the men's 200-meter breaststroke world record by nearly a second. Mr. Kitajima, who has an individual sponsorship deal with Mizuno, was for the first time wearing the LZR Racer in competition.
It hasn't been independently determined whether the new Speedo technology provides an advantage for swimmers. It also isn't known whether any technological advances of the new Speedo suit are unique to Speedo, or whether they can be copied quickly. Its main competitor in the U.S., Tyr Sport Inc., introduced a very similar suit shortly before the new Speedo and swimmers wearing it have set several national and world records.
Yet even if the Speedo swimsuit isn't superior to Tyr's, and even if other competitors can quickly produce similar versions, Speedo clearly has engineered a psychological edge for the LZR Racer. "I knew from the moment I hit the water, I'd make it," Mr. Kitajima, the Japanese world record-breaker, told reporters after the Tokyo event Sunday.
For years, the trend was to make swimsuits that covered as little skin as possible — high-cut legs and wide-open backs for women, tiny boomerang-shaped numbers for men. But allowing bodysuits before the Sydney Summer Olympics in 2000 reversed that trend, increasing the potential for new technology
Part of the problem is the lack of clarity in the rules governing the sport, such as the question of swimsuit buoyancy. Rules indicate that swimsuits shouldn't be made more buoyant but many swimmers believe the new swimsuits indeed feel buoyant.
linky
Roughly two months before the Beijing Summer Games, swimwear makers in Japan, Germany, Italy and elsewhere have been struggling furiously to come up with new designs — or risk having their sponsored swimmers break their contracts.
More swim scandals The new Speedo swimsuits are just the latest controversy to hit the pool deck. Last summer, the hottest story was U.S. star Amanda Beard deciding to pose for Playboy. We revisit that scandal in our own Amanda Beard pictorial through the years. Check it out HERE. The reason: Swimmers wearing a new swimsuit by Speedo, called the LZR Racer, have broken 38 world records since its introduction in February. Whether that number is truly remarkable is a matter of debate, given Speedo's commanding market share and the long history of world records getting broken in the runup to the Olympics. But the current perception of the new suit has created insecurity among swimmers sponsored by other brands.
That decision followed a swim meet in Tokyo where Japanese swimmers broke 17 national records — including one world record — and all but one of them were by swimmers wearing the new Speedo suit.
Japan's top swimmer, Kosuke Kitajima, shattered the men's 200-meter breaststroke world record by nearly a second. Mr. Kitajima, who has an individual sponsorship deal with Mizuno, was for the first time wearing the LZR Racer in competition.
It hasn't been independently determined whether the new Speedo technology provides an advantage for swimmers. It also isn't known whether any technological advances of the new Speedo suit are unique to Speedo, or whether they can be copied quickly. Its main competitor in the U.S., Tyr Sport Inc., introduced a very similar suit shortly before the new Speedo and swimmers wearing it have set several national and world records.
Yet even if the Speedo swimsuit isn't superior to Tyr's, and even if other competitors can quickly produce similar versions, Speedo clearly has engineered a psychological edge for the LZR Racer. "I knew from the moment I hit the water, I'd make it," Mr. Kitajima, the Japanese world record-breaker, told reporters after the Tokyo event Sunday.
For years, the trend was to make swimsuits that covered as little skin as possible — high-cut legs and wide-open backs for women, tiny boomerang-shaped numbers for men. But allowing bodysuits before the Sydney Summer Olympics in 2000 reversed that trend, increasing the potential for new technology
Part of the problem is the lack of clarity in the rules governing the sport, such as the question of swimsuit buoyancy. Rules indicate that swimsuits shouldn't be made more buoyant but many swimmers believe the new swimsuits indeed feel buoyant.
linky