New Speedo swimsuit gives user unfair advantage

March 31st, 2008 · No Comments

Speedo recently developed an extremely high-tech full-body swimsuit that cuts drag dramatically. The difference is so great that eleven world records have already been broken by users. Now the International Swimming Federation (FINA), which oversees the sport, is planning on speaking with Speedo because of the possible implications of using the suit at the upcoming Olympics. There is speculation that they will try to ban the suits from the events altogether.

Banning the suits would bring a tremendous response by Speedo because FINA originally approved the suit and because Speedo did not break any of the organizations rules.

Advocates of the suits claim that new technologies allow swimmers today to go faster than they could before.

“Yes, the swimmers today have advantages that let them go faster than swimmers ten years ago,” said Isaac. “However, that’s the nature of sport, whether it’s tennis rackets or golf clubs or new running shoes or the composition of running tracks. I wouldn’t say it cheapens it, but yes, they have an advantage over those in the past. All the people now have access to the same technology, so the best swimmer is still winning.”

The biggest problem with allowing the suit to be used is that it forces other companies to admit their suits aren’t as good. In addition, contracts with suit manufacturers prevent teams from using other company’s suits, forcing them to stick with inferior equipment.

Both sides have pretty solid arguments. There is plenty of money to be made and lost by the decision made by FINA so sticking to some sort of middle ground is damn near impossible. Of course they could ban full body suits altogether but how many people would be okay with that?

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